Recently, I participated in my favorite American holiday, Halloween, (well, tied with April Fools' Day) and my new favorite Senegalese holiday, Tabaski. Despite seemingly glaring differences – one celebrates pagan rituals with the wearing of costumes and gorging oneself on sweets, one celebrates a man loving God so much that he was willing to sacrifice his only son. Then again, I found that Tabaski and Halloween ended up having a lot in common. Namely:
1. Beautiful outfits
Everyone I hung out with on Halloween really delivered, which is good, because if they didn’t, I probably would have stopped being friends with them, because I take Halloween really seriously. One night I was a unicorn. The best part of being a unicorn isn’t the horn, as one might expect, because it’s hard to judge doorways and the horn constantly gets knocked out of place while dancing. No. The best part of being a unicorn is the magical tail that you can’t detach and are forced to wear out to post-party clubbing. Despite the fact that I was a unicorn, one of my friends was a skateboarding dinosaur, one was a sexy carrot, and WE EVEN HAD A YOSHI, none of us won the costume contest. A travesty. Later, at another Halloween party, I used my Senegalese Rapunzel for a last-second, extremely tasteful, respectful, and loving Amy Winehouse tribute. Halloween is da bomb!
Similarly, everyone put a lot of thought and effort into their Tabaski outfits. I hadn’t even bothered visiting my tailor during the past 6 weeks, knowing she was probably swamped with sequins, chiffon, and endless stitching. I wore my new outfit given to my the local middle school, which was great. It kind of made me look pregnant though. But that’s okay! I couldn't measure up to the unstoppable style of my family:
2. Good times with good friends
The holidays really brought everyone together! Between a short stop in Dakar and Tambacounda, I got to see almost all of my long-lost training group friends. And on Tabaski, the stream of visiting family members was endless.
3. Exciting food
At the Marine party, we were treated to delicious cheese dips, Halloween cookies, and some sort of brownie in a bag that said “Reach in if you dare, flaming bag of poo!” I reached in and didn’t regret it. At another Halloween party, we had cookies and brownies and plates of really delicious food that I couldn’t discern in the dark, but I enjoyed eating it.
On Tabaski, we ate SHEEP. I felt like I was on the Atkins diet. I was given the honor of eating the first piece of liver of the sheep that headbutted me back in June, a gesture I appreciated. Even though eating liver normally grosses me out – because it’s like eating a filtration or sewage system, right? – I have to say, I enjoyed winning the final battle between me and the ram of evil. Our feast continued all day, and included a lot of eating meat straight off the bone, potatoes (which I had peeled, sliced, and diced!), delicious onion sauce, and frozen beverages.
4. Swords
Swords had different uses on the two holidays. On Halloween, I used my magic light up sword that I bought at the Senegalese equivalent of a dollar store to threaten our cabbie until we were given the right price. It was also useful for frightening other drivers until we were allowed to break through traffic jams.
On Tabaski, my host father used his machete to mercilessly butcher numerous sheep. At one point, my host mom said, “Hey, Mame Diowma, don’t you want a photo of the sheep before we kill them?”
“Oh yeah!” I replied. “Great idea, host mom!”
Then I ran into the backyard with my camera, where the sheep were already tied to down. I said to my host dad, hey, I want a picture before you kill the sheep! He looked at me and then slit the sheep’s throat. Hence this photo.
I didn’t see that one coming. I almost threw up. But yeah! Swords!
5. Dancing
Everybody loves dancing! I especially love dancing with my 4 year old host sister while we all eat beignets and drink Fanta and watch Rihanna music videos on TV. No. Seriously. That is a scenario that is really hard to improve upon, and that was the scenario of Tabaski eve. Dancing on Halloween obviously involved the incident with my unicorn tail, as well as dancing to songs like Monster Mash and Lebanese hits.
6. Sheep
Obviously, Tabaski involved sheep. As in... the sheep we raised, guarded, sold, bought, and the four we eventually ate. I had never seen a sheep be killed and dismembered before, but let me tell you, it was fascinating. Fascinating in that kind of crazy person way, where I couldn’t stop watching. And identifying organs as they pulled them out. And putting my high school biology in practice, like, ohhhh that stuff is bone marrow! It was sick. But I didn’t faint, and for that, I am proud. Respect the culture.
Sheep were part of my Halloween because my friend Mary dressed up as a pregnant sheep. Because she was being “Mary had a little lamb.”
7. Doing Satanic-esque things for fun
So obviously, Halloween is Satan’s holiday, so I did a lot of creepy stuff like dress as a witch and harass young children in a British accent for a local haunted house. It was fun, as doing the Devil’s work always is.
At one point during Tabaski however, my host mom ran over to me and smeared sheep blood on my forehead a la Ash Wednesday. Normally, I wouldn’t call this a Satanic thing – at the time, I embraced the chance to participation in some sort of religious practice, which is what I thought was happening. I left the blood on my forehead like all day. Later, I talked to some other people and found out that wiping blood on people’s faces is in no way part of a normal Senegalese Tabaski. It was just my host mom having a good time. In which case, hedonism, in which case, Satan.
8. Strangely, drinking
Tabaski marked a strange chapter in my Senegalese life: for the first time in country, I saw a Muslim drink. And it was my host brother. I don’t know why this was so weird for me – I mean, I do. Most Muslims here are of the conservative persuasion, at least in the sense that they don’t drink. It seems like the younger generation, much like a lot of Muslims in America, don’t follow all the rules and are somewhat liberal. But I had just never seen anyone openly break the rule. Ahh! It was like drinking with your family for the first time. Except I didn’t drink with my host brother because that would have been even weirder.
Halloween involved drinking, but that was to be expected.
9. Demanding children
On Tabaski, children traditionally run around the neighborhood, collecting money, not unlike trick or treaters in America. Sometimes people give them sweets, but often, they just give them some coins. However, for me, children already ask me for money, my clothing, and my bike on a daily basis. So they really upped the ante on Tabaski. Good times. Good times with demanding children in fancy clothes, chasing me around the neighborhood.
But Tabaski had nothing on Halloween in this department. At the Dakar Halloween carnival, my friend Mary came running up to me and one point, frantic and in tears over her experience in the moonwalk. She said children were trying to kill her. Naturally, I thought she was probably being a little overdramatic. UNTIL I WENT IN THE MOONWALK. AND THE CHILDREN TRIED TO KILL ME.
I can’t remember the last time I had a gang of terrifying children throwing me on the floor, dogpiling on top of me, trying to rip off my shirt, and yelling, “Die DIE DIE!” When I left the moonwalk, I couldn’t stop shaking. For a few hours. It was horrendous. It was just an awful experience. Kids, man. Kids.
So there you have it. I'm pretty sure I just proved that Halloween and Tabaski are basically the same holiday. QED. No, but now that the holidays are winding down, I'm happily ready to return to some work: my vacation hadn't been entirely by choice, as the entire country had been shut down for upwards of a few weeks. Even the school told me that they wouldn't really get going until after Tabaski. I'm excited to see what happens with the small walking club I'm starting in my neighborhood and the running club I just started with my sister, not to mention my new stint as a part-time English test proctor at the school.
Love!
