Pilgrimage

February 26, 2008

Today is the Grand Magal, the largest pilgrimage in Senegal to the holy city of Touba. It is the holy city for Mourides. People have been leaving Dakar in flocks since Sunday. The city seems quite quiet compared to usual. It's estimated that between one and two million people make the trek each year. Many who don't have the money to make the pilgrimage to Mecca instead make their pilgrimage to Touba. People from all over West Africa flock to Touba for the occasion, as well as some from Europe. Touba is the one place in Senegal where women have to wear long sleeves, floor-length skirts, and keep their heads covered.

All day, the people who are still in Dakar have been complaining that nothing works as normal. One woman complained to me that she was supposed to pay her bills today, but couldn't, because most of the people from the company are in Touba. I went to the HLM market today to buy some fabric, and found only about 1/5 of the merchants as usual. Taxi drivers are also trying to charge higher prices because there are less of them around.