English version
* For pictures; see Dutch version
Thursday 26 January
One of the villagers of Nimpouya has been on Hadj pilgrimage to Mecca and returned safely. For two weeks people have been quite excited by the idea that he would come back and when exactly he would come back: because when he returns a big party is organised. Since the flights in Africa are not well scheduled as in Europe, Salif Sodré (who is the nephew of the man who went on Hadj) has been driving three times to the Ouagadougou airport to see if and when the plane would arrive. Finally on Wednesday his uncle arrived.
On Thursday all the women of the family got together in different locations to prepare the feast meal. Since Friday is the most religious day of the week for Muslims, and the timing was right, the party was held on this day. From 6 o’clock in the morning until late in the night, the women have been preparing loads and loads of food in the house of Salif: crushing parsley, making sauce for the baskets full of chickens (with loads of Maggie bouillon lumps and Dijon mustard), buckets with potatoes and salad. And in the village people killed a cow for this occasion. Of course I had to help. So I sat with the women, who were all talking, laughing and chatting together (in Mooré) while little children were playing around it. Cutting potatoes, pealing garlic, and other stuff. We are working together with more than 10 women to cut the potatoes. And next to us are again some 10 other women pealing onions and garlic or doing something else! The rest of the day we are busy preparing the food and in the afternoon Salif Sodré arrives with his uncle from the airport of Ouagadougou.
Friday 27 January
As from 6 am people are walking busy around the house. Then, at 10 am people are driving together to Nimpouya: many of them are in the back of a jeep or with many people in one car. Just before we arrive in Nimpouya we have to stop and get out of the car: all the men of the village are here to welcome this man: while they form a long line of singing people they walk to the village. In Nimpouya we walk to the Mosque where the men immediately start praying in the open air. Then we walk to another quarter of the village, with an other mosque, where they start praying again. Then the men go and sit down in the shade and for the next 2 hours or so nothing special happens. They just sit there, greeting family members and friends that have just arrived and drinking tea.
At 2 pm the formalities begin: in front of the mosque all men are sitting together while an Imam speaks through a microphone; first he talks about what it means to go on Hadj and how wonderful it is that this man has returned safely and in good health. Then he starts citing Koran. After this, we are going to the school – which is located just outside the village – to eat. All the women that were preparing the food yesterday are there, they serve the food and drinks and clean up afterwards. Then for the next two hours nothing special happens. Some people leave already. At the end of the afternoon we go back to the village. Now the party has started for the women: they are dancing, singing and clapping their hands in large circles in the sand. They have been dancing and singing until late at night, while there is no light: so in complete darkness under the stars. It was a very interesting day and I realise that I have been very lucky to have taken part in this.
