Fete = Holiday/PARTY
After a wonderfully satisfying visit to the USA, I’m back in Cameroon to get started on my second year. It’s certainly nice to be back, and was really touching when I got back into my village and everyone was so excited to welcome me back… until the 4267th time. EVERYONE had the same round of questions. How was your village? How was your family? You left your mother in good health? You left your father in good health? You came back alright? Your friends are in good health? Your brother is in good health? (People love health.)
The funny thing is that I was excited to get back here and fall back into my normal routine, but there is no normal routine anymore. Everyone has been preparing for the holidays (of which there are three, the Muslims’ Feast of the Lamb, Christmas, and New Year’s Eve), which means that life here isn’t really the same-old same-old. Everyone is going to the market, fixing up their house, and hosting family members from other villages that have come to visit.
This past Thursday was the Feast of the Lamb. Basically, it’s a Muslim holiday where you feast on lamb. Yeah. There’s not usually too many surprises with the Muslim holidays here; they’re pretty much exactly what they sounds like. It was like a week of people “getting ready for the party” (“Are you ready for the party? Are you going to visit us during the feast? Do you have plans for the feast? …). Well the day comes, and nobody is even doing anything! They’ve “sacrificed” the lamb, but it’s really just sitting around cutting and dividing it up, then doing some cooking. I visited a couple friends and had some tasty treats, but a bunch of others explained to me that the REAL party is actually Friday. WHAT!?
At this point I’m starting to have my doubts that there’s any party at all. They say that there’s not enough time to kill the sheep, cut it up, cook it, and eat it the same day. (For the record, there is. I went to plenty of houses where all of those things were done by 3pm. It was delicious.) Well in the end, there was much more cooking going on Friday, and I ended up eating four different meals at four different houses. Also delicious. I can’t criticize too much a holiday strictly devoted to eating, but it still didn’t feel too much like the party they hyped it up to be. More like just a nice meal.
So that holiday is now winding down, and all the Christians are getting ready for Christmas. This holiday has been confirmed a party. All the women who know how to prepare bil-bil are currently working their magic for the big day, on which apparently everyone drinks for free. All the bars are hosting a Christmas ball on the 24th. Drums will be playing and people will be dancing and singing in the street for a week—straight through New Year’s. I’ve got a sheep of my own that we’ll be “sacrificing” at my counterpart’s house. And because I spent last Christmas in Garoua, I’m looking forward to seeing what Christmas is like in village.
I don’t think my sheep is too thrilled about it all.
The funny thing is that I was excited to get back here and fall back into my normal routine, but there is no normal routine anymore. Everyone has been preparing for the holidays (of which there are three, the Muslims’ Feast of the Lamb, Christmas, and New Year’s Eve), which means that life here isn’t really the same-old same-old. Everyone is going to the market, fixing up their house, and hosting family members from other villages that have come to visit.
This past Thursday was the Feast of the Lamb. Basically, it’s a Muslim holiday where you feast on lamb. Yeah. There’s not usually too many surprises with the Muslim holidays here; they’re pretty much exactly what they sounds like. It was like a week of people “getting ready for the party” (“Are you ready for the party? Are you going to visit us during the feast? Do you have plans for the feast? …). Well the day comes, and nobody is even doing anything! They’ve “sacrificed” the lamb, but it’s really just sitting around cutting and dividing it up, then doing some cooking. I visited a couple friends and had some tasty treats, but a bunch of others explained to me that the REAL party is actually Friday. WHAT!?
At this point I’m starting to have my doubts that there’s any party at all. They say that there’s not enough time to kill the sheep, cut it up, cook it, and eat it the same day. (For the record, there is. I went to plenty of houses where all of those things were done by 3pm. It was delicious.) Well in the end, there was much more cooking going on Friday, and I ended up eating four different meals at four different houses. Also delicious. I can’t criticize too much a holiday strictly devoted to eating, but it still didn’t feel too much like the party they hyped it up to be. More like just a nice meal.
So that holiday is now winding down, and all the Christians are getting ready for Christmas. This holiday has been confirmed a party. All the women who know how to prepare bil-bil are currently working their magic for the big day, on which apparently everyone drinks for free. All the bars are hosting a Christmas ball on the 24th. Drums will be playing and people will be dancing and singing in the street for a week—straight through New Year’s. I’ve got a sheep of my own that we’ll be “sacrificing” at my counterpart’s house. And because I spent last Christmas in Garoua, I’m looking forward to seeing what Christmas is like in village.
I don’t think my sheep is too thrilled about it all.
posted by Ryan @ 2:59 AM
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