On the 13th January, it was the Muslim festival of Gamou, celebrating the birth of the prophet Muhammad. Having experienced a range of Senegalese Muslim festivals already, I still had no idea what to expect.
The day started off quite quietly and, apart from my pupils telling me about different events in the life of the prophet, it was like any other day. Then, just before dusk, me, Precious and Fatou Ba (our Senegalese sister) set off for Medina Baye, the biggest mosque in Kaolack. I can safely say that I have never felt the need for a dusk mask more than I did that evening. The crowds of people were simply hidden behind this massive dust cloud (hence why the photos from Medina are a bit on the blurry side). We made our way back to the house (choice of transport being a donkey cart!) and sat down to what is definitely one of my favourite meals here: salad, chips, meat and onion sauce.
Of all the ways to celebrate a religious festival, the one which I least expected and probably would not have chosen after a long, tiring week of work was...
staying up all night!
Yes, and that is exactly what we did. We got changed into our Senegalese boubous, covered our hair and headed out to a tent full of singing and preaching. I would be lying if I said that I managed to stay up till 6am, as I cheated a bit and had a couple of naps during the night, but I did officially go to bed at 6am.
I loved Gamou: the dust, the crowds, learning about the prophet, the food, the songs and, the best part, the challenge of staying awake!
The day started off quite quietly and, apart from my pupils telling me about different events in the life of the prophet, it was like any other day. Then, just before dusk, me, Precious and Fatou Ba (our Senegalese sister) set off for Medina Baye, the biggest mosque in Kaolack. I can safely say that I have never felt the need for a dusk mask more than I did that evening. The crowds of people were simply hidden behind this massive dust cloud (hence why the photos from Medina are a bit on the blurry side). We made our way back to the house (choice of transport being a donkey cart!) and sat down to what is definitely one of my favourite meals here: salad, chips, meat and onion sauce.
Of all the ways to celebrate a religious festival, the one which I least expected and probably would not have chosen after a long, tiring week of work was...
staying up all night!
Yes, and that is exactly what we did. We got changed into our Senegalese boubous, covered our hair and headed out to a tent full of singing and preaching. I would be lying if I said that I managed to stay up till 6am, as I cheated a bit and had a couple of naps during the night, but I did officially go to bed at 6am.
I loved Gamou: the dust, the crowds, learning about the prophet, the food, the songs and, the best part, the challenge of staying awake!