the posession dance
so this past weekend was full of cultural events.. saturday was the marriage and sunday was the posession ceremony. i didn't realize the emphasis on "dance" until we got there, though. actually, let me preface the whole story with a little information on the timing of the event: it started at 10, our professor didn't pick us up until 11:30, we got lost and didn't get there until 12:00, the calabash players (whose music is responsible for calling out the spirits) didn't show up until 4 or so, and the actual dancing, trancing, and possession probably didn't start until 5. during all the time we were there where nothing was really happening, we were fed a huge nigerien plate of rice and sauce, we were occupied with a tiny 2 day old goat, and we even took a nap.. the nap was disturbed by men digging holes in the sand for the calabash players as well as what we thought was the sacrificial chicken going bananas over our bodies as we were lying down. but then things picked up, and there was tons of dance before the mediums actually showed any signs of being posessed. even the anasaras put on a little show! they forced us up in the dance circle, and the sand was extraordinarily hot underneath our feet, but we did what we could to provide a good show. our goofy boys especially caused a stir. then we sat down, and the posession began! probably impossible to imagine from whatever i write, so here is my best attempt at a synopsis:
the reason why the ceremony was called:
a woman in a polygamist (?) marriage -the third wife- was seeking revenge upon the first two wives. the first 2 wives were upset when their husband decided to take another, so they had a posession ceremony so that the 3rd wife would not be able to produce children. the 3rd wife then had a posession ceremony so that she could have children, and was having another one now (after her baby was born) in hopes that the 2 first wives would be cursed, i suppose, and the husband would divorce them both.
the spirits that were called and what they did:
red spirits - with the music and other mediums screaming in their faces to try to call out the spirits, these particular mediums were posessed by sad spirits. once past the trance phase they did a crazy dance of flailing arms, then they fell to the earth and cried and screamed and dug their hands into the sand. (there were 2 men and 1 woman posessed by the red spirits this time)
hauka - i was completely unaware of where these people came from. unlike the red spirits, who seemed to have a formal musical calling as well as people yelling and requesting their presence, the hauka came out of nowhere. the hauka spirits are angry spirits, who represent white soldiers and the colonizers. they are violent and angry. yesterday, there was a man and a woman posessed by this type of spirit, and they were foaming at the mouth, sweating profusely, trembling. the guy startled everyone because 'the spirit entered him quickly'.. he jumped up into the air and threw himself on the ground HARD.. 3 times in a row landing flat on his back on the hard sand! he then proceeded to rush at the crowd of people flailing his arms, making everyone run away!
i hate to be vague, but i will never be able to recap all the details of the day! once the spirits were all out, we went into this mudbrick house where the actual counsel was given to the woman who called the ceremony. the red spirits gathered around the woman, and the hauka went around talking to all those who gathered. (it was probably 120 degrees in that hut, by the way) people asked for advice, fortunes were given freely, and every once in a while something bizarre happened and there would be a cry from someone in the crowd. i don't actually know the exact advice they gave the 3rd wife who called the ceremony, but the male hauka did come up to the 9 of us white people. he said he liked us cause we were one with him (he came from ohio), he would be with those of us who were going to the beach after we left niger (most of my peers here are going to the coast of benin rather than straight home after the program is over), and he said we'd all get our diplomas (that one was vague, i know).. but for how violent his motions were, he was very nice to the anasaras.
anyway, to wrap it up, 9 hours of exhausting and crazy events later.. at the end of the day was i convinced? i would say that i'm 87% sure that something extraordinary was happening. i will say that nothing that happened couldn't have been acted. HOWEVER.. there are many unexplicables.. like: it would have to be really really really good acting to physically torture yourself, or foam out of your nose and mouth. also, the mediums who get posessed don't get paid. the musicians do for calling out the spirits, but the mediums don't. one woman was in trance, and they were trying to get the full posession, but the spirit "fell out of her" and she flopped to the ground before the spirit spoke. and the one hauka woman was a fully veiled, hardcore muslim until the spirit entered her.. and our teacher told us she hates being posessed and has to beg god for forgiveness after she attends these events. it is part of her duty, however, to be posessed, and no matter the pain or the sin of it all, she has to do it. also inexplicable, putting your baby's life in danger. one woman was overcome when the spirit was talking to her - she cried out and her body flailed, and we were lucky the baby (who was tied around her back the way all women here carry their young) didn't crack his skull on the wall behind her! after that episode the anasaras took over the infant and the woman went to rest on the floor.. but no mother here would act like that with her child around her waist!
at the end of the day you could definitely say it has a lot to do with beliefs, culture, and perhaps some sort of fabrication.. it is after all a very theatrical event.. but it's still really a mystery to me. i'm convinced there are spirits, i'm not positive they posess people. i'm sure mediums minds aren't fully there as their bodies are apparently being posessed, but i have no idea where they go! it's amazing to hear some of the stories, and to really think about it. being western the whole thing all sounds like such bull, but it is such a strong part of the culture here. me saying that spirit posessions don't exist is like a nigerienne saying that baseball isn't a sport. and that's a terrible analogy.
yesterday was exhausting, but an amazing experience. literally exhausting though - dehydration last night and all day today for sure. must nap now. was able to get one or two pictures on my friends camera yesterday, and will put them up with others the next chance i get.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Mon Premier Mariage Nigerien
My first Nigerien Wedding
wearing our ridiculously nigerien and conservative attire
well today for nigerien culture and society class we went to our teacher's nephew's wedding. ceremony here isn't at all like it is in the state.. tradition says that the day is all about the groom and not the bride. while probably 150 people were celebrating in niamey, the bride-to-be was out in tillaberi - she was waiting to be picked up by the groom's friends for i guess the evening shebang.
on the way to the ceremony we took a quick visit to some girl's house, said hello, drank some juice, and left.. a strange little pit stop. on the road again and amina's car started squealing like a cat so we had to pull over, luckily right in front of a garage. the garage guys proceeded to give us a ride to the house.. all in a typical day's happenings here, il n'ya pas de problem, we say
so we reached the final destination at last, with all the family members wearing different cuts of the same crazy pagne. a big gathering, and 6 of us anasaras were warmly welcomed.. more Nigeriens in one place than i think i've seen yet, in and around an average sized nigerien home. we wore traditional nigerien clothing, so got some compliments on that, and it probably helped us blend in a little? at least that's what we thought until we were brought into a bedroom, they shut the door, and then we were like.. "they want to hide the awkward white people!" we really just sat around in the bedroom for a while, but an occasional old woman would come and serenade us with singing. then they brought us food - african rice and chicken, traditional style - which entails using your hands - no utensils! it was a big anasara mess. there was rice everywhere, none of us could breathe sitting on the floor in our traditional dresses, and we had officially lost amina, our teacher. after about 2 hours we decided to ask if anyone knew where she went, but by then she came back, and it was time to go.
we left with a member of the wedding party.. dropped us off at the main road and caught a taxi back.
i realize as i write that nothing that i can type can explain how awkward these situations have been, or how fun in retrospect. we have a singing competition and dinner on a boat tonight.. then tomorrow we're going to a posession ceremony, soo hopefully the next post will be a little more interesting!
wearing our ridiculously nigerien and conservative attirewell today for nigerien culture and society class we went to our teacher's nephew's wedding. ceremony here isn't at all like it is in the state.. tradition says that the day is all about the groom and not the bride. while probably 150 people were celebrating in niamey, the bride-to-be was out in tillaberi - she was waiting to be picked up by the groom's friends for i guess the evening shebang.
on the way to the ceremony we took a quick visit to some girl's house, said hello, drank some juice, and left.. a strange little pit stop. on the road again and amina's car started squealing like a cat so we had to pull over, luckily right in front of a garage. the garage guys proceeded to give us a ride to the house.. all in a typical day's happenings here, il n'ya pas de problem, we say
so we reached the final destination at last, with all the family members wearing different cuts of the same crazy pagne. a big gathering, and 6 of us anasaras were warmly welcomed.. more Nigeriens in one place than i think i've seen yet, in and around an average sized nigerien home. we wore traditional nigerien clothing, so got some compliments on that, and it probably helped us blend in a little? at least that's what we thought until we were brought into a bedroom, they shut the door, and then we were like.. "they want to hide the awkward white people!" we really just sat around in the bedroom for a while, but an occasional old woman would come and serenade us with singing. then they brought us food - african rice and chicken, traditional style - which entails using your hands - no utensils! it was a big anasara mess. there was rice everywhere, none of us could breathe sitting on the floor in our traditional dresses, and we had officially lost amina, our teacher. after about 2 hours we decided to ask if anyone knew where she went, but by then she came back, and it was time to go.
we left with a member of the wedding party.. dropped us off at the main road and caught a taxi back.
i realize as i write that nothing that i can type can explain how awkward these situations have been, or how fun in retrospect. we have a singing competition and dinner on a boat tonight.. then tomorrow we're going to a posession ceremony, soo hopefully the next post will be a little more interesting!
Friday, March 27, 2009
JE SUIS FACHEE
IM PISSED
I never write blogs and I just had a real long one goin about my homestay this week, then the power went out for just a minute so it disappeared :(
Anyway, I'll try again:
I lived with Dad Ousmane, Mom Binta, Mesbah 5, Kaliyah 2, Monido 11, Rukiyah 14. They're a Ba'Hai family, an interesting religion I'd never heard about until meeting them.
First day was awkward, as expected.. Went through the market with Binta to get cooking materials for the week (although she doesn't cook, the niece Monido and the housekeeper Rukiyah do all domestic things). Before that day I had never gotten so close to the meat section of the market, for good reason. I got a lil splatter of bone or cow or I don't know what on my face.. The way you buy meat is absurd, you order it off of big slabs on wooden counters, and then the guy hacks away at it with a machete (sp?). Anyway, the market is always a big ordeal with people trying to sell you things at every angle. I felt bad for Binta because as a whitie I attract a lot of salespeople and automatically jack up the price of things she is actually trying to buy.. But we made it through.
That night was the Ba'Hai New Year so we went to another family's house for dinner. I thought I was eating a BAT so I was sweating profusively.. to be curtious I ate everything (and that wasn't the last time I had to force somethin down) Turns out it was just the head and breast of a small bird, but fried up I was seriously worried. Later that night there was a cockroach in my bedroom, but I took a deep breath, turned off the light, and tossed around in bed for hours because it was so flippin hot. After my awkward first day and hot, sleepless night I really wasn't sure I was gonna love my homestay.
BUTTT of course things picked up, and I came to love my family. Mesbah and Kaliyah have devilish and angelic sides, like any kids I guess. Kaliyah can pull off the bratty-ness better cause she's as cute as a button and just 2. Mesbah, not so much.. never malicious towards me or anything, but just as obnoxious as a boy his age in the states - very bright and cute boy though, who likes to draw and could be entertained for hours in front of some construction paper.
Yesterday I had no class and spent the whole day with the family at a close friend's house.. played with the neighbor baby, ate a lot of food, and even took a nap while I was there. I have come to master the early afternoon sieste, and when they first told me I should lay down, I was like "nahh, cava" but then I got smart and passssed out. It is so hot in the middle of the day the only thing to do is sleep.. it's just odd that I took a nap at a complete stranger's house. The couple there was super nice though - they even gave me a pagne as a gift :) Also spent some time at an Iranian woman's house, a nice big place with a SWIMMING POOL and AIR CONDITIONING! Her name was Fara, and she's this smart Ba'Hai lady who runs a private school here.. talked to me a lot about the religion, but I surprisingly wasn't bored.. it's a really logical approach to faith that emphasizes being in accord with science - just something new and interesting.
Surely there are countless other things I could record about homestay, like how Kaliyah pooped in the bude, the amount of times there was no water, how often and hot it was when the power went out at night, the loud call to prayer from the mosque next door, how me and Binta bonded over American and Cote D'Ivorian music, the amount of rice and fish I ate..
We're having a little homestay reception in about an hour.. everyones' families are coming to eat dinner with us at the CFCA. Binta is actually Burkinabe, and as a gift she gave me something truly African to wear tonight.. the material is the equivalent of a burlap sack and I'll be dying of sweat for sure, but it's a pretty dark blue and I'll sport it with pride. My last lunch with the family filled me up to the brim and I'm not hungry at all - and I probably can't zip up the top part of the dress - but I kind of look forward to showing my pretty family off to the other students :) Hopefully Mesbah and Kaliyah behave..
I never write blogs and I just had a real long one goin about my homestay this week, then the power went out for just a minute so it disappeared :(
Anyway, I'll try again:
I lived with Dad Ousmane, Mom Binta, Mesbah 5, Kaliyah 2, Monido 11, Rukiyah 14. They're a Ba'Hai family, an interesting religion I'd never heard about until meeting them.
First day was awkward, as expected.. Went through the market with Binta to get cooking materials for the week (although she doesn't cook, the niece Monido and the housekeeper Rukiyah do all domestic things). Before that day I had never gotten so close to the meat section of the market, for good reason. I got a lil splatter of bone or cow or I don't know what on my face.. The way you buy meat is absurd, you order it off of big slabs on wooden counters, and then the guy hacks away at it with a machete (sp?). Anyway, the market is always a big ordeal with people trying to sell you things at every angle. I felt bad for Binta because as a whitie I attract a lot of salespeople and automatically jack up the price of things she is actually trying to buy.. But we made it through.
That night was the Ba'Hai New Year so we went to another family's house for dinner. I thought I was eating a BAT so I was sweating profusively.. to be curtious I ate everything (and that wasn't the last time I had to force somethin down) Turns out it was just the head and breast of a small bird, but fried up I was seriously worried. Later that night there was a cockroach in my bedroom, but I took a deep breath, turned off the light, and tossed around in bed for hours because it was so flippin hot. After my awkward first day and hot, sleepless night I really wasn't sure I was gonna love my homestay.
BUTTT of course things picked up, and I came to love my family. Mesbah and Kaliyah have devilish and angelic sides, like any kids I guess. Kaliyah can pull off the bratty-ness better cause she's as cute as a button and just 2. Mesbah, not so much.. never malicious towards me or anything, but just as obnoxious as a boy his age in the states - very bright and cute boy though, who likes to draw and could be entertained for hours in front of some construction paper.
Yesterday I had no class and spent the whole day with the family at a close friend's house.. played with the neighbor baby, ate a lot of food, and even took a nap while I was there. I have come to master the early afternoon sieste, and when they first told me I should lay down, I was like "nahh, cava" but then I got smart and passssed out. It is so hot in the middle of the day the only thing to do is sleep.. it's just odd that I took a nap at a complete stranger's house. The couple there was super nice though - they even gave me a pagne as a gift :) Also spent some time at an Iranian woman's house, a nice big place with a SWIMMING POOL and AIR CONDITIONING! Her name was Fara, and she's this smart Ba'Hai lady who runs a private school here.. talked to me a lot about the religion, but I surprisingly wasn't bored.. it's a really logical approach to faith that emphasizes being in accord with science - just something new and interesting.
Surely there are countless other things I could record about homestay, like how Kaliyah pooped in the bude, the amount of times there was no water, how often and hot it was when the power went out at night, the loud call to prayer from the mosque next door, how me and Binta bonded over American and Cote D'Ivorian music, the amount of rice and fish I ate..
We're having a little homestay reception in about an hour.. everyones' families are coming to eat dinner with us at the CFCA. Binta is actually Burkinabe, and as a gift she gave me something truly African to wear tonight.. the material is the equivalent of a burlap sack and I'll be dying of sweat for sure, but it's a pretty dark blue and I'll sport it with pride. My last lunch with the family filled me up to the brim and I'm not hungry at all - and I probably can't zip up the top part of the dress - but I kind of look forward to showing my pretty family off to the other students :) Hopefully Mesbah and Kaliyah behave..
Thursday, March 19, 2009
La Moto
The motorcycle
In retrospect, I made gut decisions which were kind of stupid, but I made it home safely!
To alleviate some of the homesickness I'd been having recently, I decided to get out of our little compound and do some city exploring last weekend. Some of us explored new restaurants, went through the markets, went to an English club, etc. On Sunday I decided I would be productive, so I went to an internet cafe (which was not like an internet cafe in the European sense, obviously) I was happy to catch a ride there from our neighbor, and not have to get in a taxi -which is only 40 cents per ride by the way. The internet cafe proved not to be conducive to writing a paper though, because the keyboard was in french format and it took me an hour to type anything.. It was hot, cramped, and I was sitting on an uncomfortable stool, But I didn't stay through my full two hour session anyway, because the power was cut before it was finished. So I left hot and slightly disgruntled.
I probably walked around the roundpoint in the sun for about 20 minutes trying to catch a taxi. Some passed, but none were going in my direction, which is how they do things here. So I start talking to a local, who tries to help me find one, walk down another road, catch one finally -who starts taking me in the wrong direction! Kicks me out (didn't pay of course) and now I'm back at the game of trying to find someone going towards Chateau 1 or Indrap. End up walking all the way back to where I started, with a young boy named Nu who also tried helping me.. No use.. I finally decide to just start walking back home until something else comes up. The road I went down to avoid the unsafe route proved to be backed up with traffic... That explained the power outtage.. The president was passing. Military personell were everywhere and the streets were congested but quiet. I didn't realize at first what was going on, and was instructed by the gendarmes to run across the road! I laughed at my misery.. lost, sweating profusively and the police were making me look like an idiot anasara running through a military blockade. (Locals were actually saying, HEY ANASARA -the term for white foreigner.. sometimes I get HEY CHINOIS too) Well seconds later I heard sirens and saw the presidential entourage speed by. All the roads were literally grid lock and I lost any hope of getting back in a timely manor.
Then, a friend of the program said hello, and I hopped on his moto and we took a tour of the city to avoid the traffic! Front door service and my first time ever on a bike... I sort of got scolded for getting on a motorcycle in Niamey, which is understandably unsafe, BUT I was soo flustered! And it was really my best option, the two possible walking routes pass by the two parts of town we are specifically informed not to go to: The Kennedy Bridge is notorious for petty theives and roberies, and La Cloche is a brothel where 2 students here were mugged last week!
I have just realized I have no creativity for writing right now, and those adventures were much more exciting to recap before this blog entry! .. I'm in the middle of doing the descriptive paper I had intended to do last Sunday at the cyber cafe, and thus am all typed out. It's hot too. I even notice that Nigeriens are sweating now, which means that the season is starting! It gets up to 110 already.. and even though it cools off in the night, our rooms stay a toasty temperature. I wake up often to a pillow and matress soaked with sweat.. The worst is when the power goes out - if that happens in the middle of the night and our ceiling fans go off everyone immediately wakes up.. it's unbearable already. Lately I've been seeing friends' pictures of Europe and Australia, and I start to think I chose the wrong region of the world to study abroad in! I have discovered the French Cultural Center's air conditioned library though, and am going to spend as much time there as possible once it "actually" gets hot...
Speaking of French Cultural Center, I was there yesterday talking to a guy who I always see at the museum, a major Nigerien sculptor. He introduced me to the cultural center's graphic designer, who co-runs a culture and arts NGO here, which I hope to start doing another community placement with.. so more on that later.. but I literally met one guy to another, and even got to introduce myself to Moustaffa, the animator who I watched a documentary on at Fespaco.
I'm quitting this blog now though for a lunch break. Then back to my paper, and then out for a friend's 21st birthday tonight! The heat and the many languages I'm trying to concentrate on really don't do much for my english grammar and style.. I've realized this in the difficulty I'm having doing this formal paper! So I'm signing off on a very scatter brained note.
In retrospect, I made gut decisions which were kind of stupid, but I made it home safely!
To alleviate some of the homesickness I'd been having recently, I decided to get out of our little compound and do some city exploring last weekend. Some of us explored new restaurants, went through the markets, went to an English club, etc. On Sunday I decided I would be productive, so I went to an internet cafe (which was not like an internet cafe in the European sense, obviously) I was happy to catch a ride there from our neighbor, and not have to get in a taxi -which is only 40 cents per ride by the way. The internet cafe proved not to be conducive to writing a paper though, because the keyboard was in french format and it took me an hour to type anything.. It was hot, cramped, and I was sitting on an uncomfortable stool, But I didn't stay through my full two hour session anyway, because the power was cut before it was finished. So I left hot and slightly disgruntled.
I probably walked around the roundpoint in the sun for about 20 minutes trying to catch a taxi. Some passed, but none were going in my direction, which is how they do things here. So I start talking to a local, who tries to help me find one, walk down another road, catch one finally -who starts taking me in the wrong direction! Kicks me out (didn't pay of course) and now I'm back at the game of trying to find someone going towards Chateau 1 or Indrap. End up walking all the way back to where I started, with a young boy named Nu who also tried helping me.. No use.. I finally decide to just start walking back home until something else comes up. The road I went down to avoid the unsafe route proved to be backed up with traffic... That explained the power outtage.. The president was passing. Military personell were everywhere and the streets were congested but quiet. I didn't realize at first what was going on, and was instructed by the gendarmes to run across the road! I laughed at my misery.. lost, sweating profusively and the police were making me look like an idiot anasara running through a military blockade. (Locals were actually saying, HEY ANASARA -the term for white foreigner.. sometimes I get HEY CHINOIS too) Well seconds later I heard sirens and saw the presidential entourage speed by. All the roads were literally grid lock and I lost any hope of getting back in a timely manor.
Then, a friend of the program said hello, and I hopped on his moto and we took a tour of the city to avoid the traffic! Front door service and my first time ever on a bike... I sort of got scolded for getting on a motorcycle in Niamey, which is understandably unsafe, BUT I was soo flustered! And it was really my best option, the two possible walking routes pass by the two parts of town we are specifically informed not to go to: The Kennedy Bridge is notorious for petty theives and roberies, and La Cloche is a brothel where 2 students here were mugged last week!
I have just realized I have no creativity for writing right now, and those adventures were much more exciting to recap before this blog entry! .. I'm in the middle of doing the descriptive paper I had intended to do last Sunday at the cyber cafe, and thus am all typed out. It's hot too. I even notice that Nigeriens are sweating now, which means that the season is starting! It gets up to 110 already.. and even though it cools off in the night, our rooms stay a toasty temperature. I wake up often to a pillow and matress soaked with sweat.. The worst is when the power goes out - if that happens in the middle of the night and our ceiling fans go off everyone immediately wakes up.. it's unbearable already. Lately I've been seeing friends' pictures of Europe and Australia, and I start to think I chose the wrong region of the world to study abroad in! I have discovered the French Cultural Center's air conditioned library though, and am going to spend as much time there as possible once it "actually" gets hot...
Speaking of French Cultural Center, I was there yesterday talking to a guy who I always see at the museum, a major Nigerien sculptor. He introduced me to the cultural center's graphic designer, who co-runs a culture and arts NGO here, which I hope to start doing another community placement with.. so more on that later.. but I literally met one guy to another, and even got to introduce myself to Moustaffa, the animator who I watched a documentary on at Fespaco.
I'm quitting this blog now though for a lunch break. Then back to my paper, and then out for a friend's 21st birthday tonight! The heat and the many languages I'm trying to concentrate on really don't do much for my english grammar and style.. I've realized this in the difficulty I'm having doing this formal paper! So I'm signing off on a very scatter brained note.
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