Today was supposedly "la fete", or as they told me here the last day of Ramadan. However, and to my surprise compared to what I have experienced in Morocco or in other countries, it didn't feel at all as a day of festivity.
Aside from the kids playing around with their home made fire cracker device (very ingenious device by the way), and for the men being dressed nicely to go to the mosque, it felt like any other day.
As I am writing this post I actually do not recall having seen anybody pray thus far. I am curious to know the proportion of Muslims in this town. Is it similar to Bamako? It is funny because just like in the Bassari country in Senegal, whether Christian or Muslim they are all still animist and still follow their traditional beliefs.
I really wish I could meet someone educated enough to ask why and what the benefit of also following Islam or Christianity is. Is religion just a title on a community? Does it really serve a purpose? I saw a lot of that in Indonesia with the Batak tribes, but never thought of it twice. Is it perhaps the fact that religion is something brought by the white man thus we will integrate it to our traditions to make us feel modern. After all it has been the case with fashion, music, brands, technology, etc...so why not religion?
And so yes, today was not much a celebratory day despite all the fuss people were making about it when we were in Bamako. Amadou told me that part of it was due to the fact that the economy in the Pays Dogon is dead and tourism hasn't come for years now due to the conflict in the north.
Since it was the Tabaski today, I was expecting that today at least, we would eat with Amadou's family. Bit no, yet again, the family had plates sent to us with food in them, but Amadou didn't feel the desire to spend those meals with his family...even though it has been a year since he last came to the village.
This morning, we rode a motorcycle around the village and its various neighborhoods. The village is huge. It was gorgeous. The diversity of topography and vegetation is just stunning.
When we came back I went to buy several kilos of pasta for his family, as a gift for the special day. They seemed very pleased.
Given that it gets so hot around mid day here, we yet again spent most of the afternoon laying down and hiding from the burning sun. It is crazy when I think about it, it is supposed to be the coolest season of the year here, and yet the heat feels like the opposite. Yes, I am so glad to not live in Africa, or at least west Africa. Am not sure I could handle such heat all year long. I need tempered four seasons.
The end of the afternoon showed a brutal change in weather. In less than an hour, the sky turned from beautiful sunset to cataclysmic black thunderstorms filled with lightening. We had just enough time to see it coming and take our things inside.
It was nice though. We just sat down on the roof and watched it come progressively. It got windier and windier. And we could even feel the wetness and coolness of the rain filled clouds much before as they were pouring over other parts of the plateau before reaching us.
When the storm hit us, we had nothing to do but lay down and nap. No light nor electricity around. So the whole village turned pitch black.
But like most tropical down pours, it only lasted a bit more than an hour.
So later on I set up my bed outside as usual, and we made some tea before going to sleep.
It will be a chilly night thanks to the rain. Perfect!
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