Party Over Here

One thing that I always felt like I missed out on while living in Dakar was a real Senegalese party. The Senegalese celebrate everything: marriages, births, new houses, etc. Celebrations include the renting of tents to hold the celebrations under, music and dancing, singing, lots of talking, food, and the usual. My family in Dakar never held a party and never invited me to any of the ones that members of the family attended. Here it is, my second night in Kaolack, and I got to go to one! It was very exciting.

A family friend returned tonight from his pilgrimage to Mecca, so they of course threw a huge party for him. I know more people in Kaolack than I knew my whole first few weeks in Dakar. I was taken around and introduced to all the family last night, and tonight I met everyone at the party as well. Everyone knows my name, but I of course hardly remember anyone else's since I've met well over 100 people in two days.

The beginning of the party consisted of lots of women sitting around in circles cutting vegetables. There were men around talking in some areas as well. There were tons of children who immediately started hanging on me and calling me "toubab." White people are much more rare in Kaolack than in Dakar, so they're a bigger deal to children. But luckily, unlike yesterday, my looks didn't make any of the children cry. Instead, it made some of them simply laugh uncontrollably. But they were adorable. A bit obnoxious after a little while, but adorable. One little boy wouldn't let go of my hand. Another little girl attached herself to me as well and started crying when her mother tried to take her away. She was absolutely adorable.

The party started without the guest of answer. Lots of dancing, singing out to Allah, and drummers drumming away. I was sitting and watching all the commotion, but was dragged up to the dance area by a woman I had met earlier in the evening, so I danced along with all the others. When the guest arrived, it was a mad rush to the door of the compound to meet him. Hadit, my host mother/sister, dragged me out with her into the mass of people and had me take pictures. The man was welcomed into the house, but I don't know what happened in there. Then he was brought back under the tents where he said his prayers while everyone watched him. People then went up to him to get what seemed like a blessing and to hear him speak. They then gave him a chair and they continued to kneel in front of him and hear him talk and say things to him. Hadit pulled me over as well and had me kneel down with her. He shook my hand and we exchanged greetings. I put my hands out like the others, and I guess received some kind of blessing like the others. I need to ask my host brother what exactly this was, no one who was around me spoke French so I couldn't get an explanation.

After a bit of a frustrating morning attempting to work but being unable to, this was a great way to kick off my sejour in Kaolack.