Holidays

We recently marked two holidays, Thanksgiving and Tabaski. These are strikingly similar. Although one is religious and one is not, they both are marked by gluttonous consumption of meat. Thanksgiving has its turkeys to commemorate the survival of the Pilgrims thanks to the cooperation of the Native Americans. Tabaski has its rams to commemorate Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his only son, Ismail, to prove himself to god. The bottom line is that an animal is killed and folks gorge themselves. These two separate cultural holidays happened to fall two days apart this year, which made for the tastiest week ever.

Since Tabaski was on the Saturday after Thanksgiving and it is the biggest holiday in Mali, the Peace Corps crew who live in Sikasso held their annual feast early, on the preceding Monday. This was perfect for us because it meant we got to go there and pig out on turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and maybe a beer or two and still make it back to Bamako to go to the U.S. Ambassador’s residence on Thanksgiving itself for more of the same! This was our Mali version of Thanksgiving with the Hannons and then driving to New Hampshire for Thanksgiving with the Briggs. Score!
Tabaski is celebrated by virtually all Malians and that means that the same move could be pulled for this holiday too. We spent the morning with our family cutting up animals and cooking then we headed to our tutor’s place for a feast with his friends. After that, we came back
home only to eat even more with the family again before they returned to the mosque dressed in their finest. Normally, everyone gets new clothes made for the occasion but since we rarely wear Malian clothes in Bamako our “swear-in” outfits were new to them.

(Sam with our host family in Bamako)

We ended the evening in an untraditional fashion watching a France versus New Zealand rugby at the bar. Heck, we are even culturally exchanging with Kiwis!

Happy Thanksgiving

Just a quick note to let everyone know we are doing well. Another Turkey Day without the family but at least there was turkey this time. We headed over to the U.S. Ambassador's residence for a feast she was throwing for those less fortunate (read: Peace Corps Volunteers). We were treated to turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, yams, veggies and wine and we didn't have to clean one dish. That's the life!

We recognize that the updates have been lacking recently. While this is partly due to a little computer snafu we'll explain later, it is mostly just us being lazy. Too lazy to even make up excuses. We'll get on that.

In the meantime, here is an update on the mummified cat:

It has returned to the earth.

Halloween 2009

Here’s a picture of Sam and Mark at a Halloween party in Bamako:


Those tins on their arms are beggars’ cups. No, they are not dressed as street beggars. C'mon, that would be uncouth. While Sam and Mark appear to be dressed as mere beggars, a closer inspection of their clothes reveals them to be - wait for it - twins.

What?!

A word about twins in West Africa: they are considered good luck. Yes, I know what you are thinking, they should be considered good luck everywhere, true, but here it goes beyond that. You are supposed to give them money. Another word about twins: they need not be real twins at all. In fact, they often are not.

Why?

A word about beggar mothers: it is safe to assume that beggar moms have lived in West Africa most, if not all, of their lives. So, while they may not have had the chance to attend the Sorbonne, they still know a trick or two. Giving money to twins being considered good luck means that when a beggar gives birth to a set it is kind of like hitting the daily double. Donc, it is very common to see children who are clearly not twins (sometimes it is debatable whether they are even related) dressed alike to bring in more money. We didn’t say they knew any good tricks.

Due to a fluke in the genetic code of the West African populace there are tons of twins (and, even more odd, albinos) floating around, mostly fraternal. Are Sam and Mark real fraternal twins? We hope not on so many levels.