Ramadan, Naming Ceremony & Korite

Despite living in an area with nearby Catholics and Animists, my village, like the majority of the country are Muslim. Within the Islam faith, Ramadan is a holy month (changing annually since it is dependent on the moon) in which Muslims will fast during the day, it is also the 5th (of 5) pillar of Islam. This means, no food or water during daylight hours! They will get up before the sun rises, eat and drink a lot, and then wait until the sun sets (around 7:30pm) to break fast. "Breaking fast" consists of eating a rice or corn porridge, and then eating a proper dinner afterwards, which often means late, in the 10 o'clock hour or later! Children and pregnant women are exempt, although unfortunately, some people do not skip because they do not have to "make up" the days later in the year. On my compound, the children started fasting every other day, to train their bodies, although towards the end, I found myself eating all my meals with them (since women will still cook for their kids, of course). This year, Ramadan fell during planting season, so villagers would go to the fields daily, planting and tending to their fields. Many days were cooler (in the 80s-90s) with cloud cover, but I neglected to fast since I could not imagine putting body through that eating schedule, not to mention NOT drinking water during the day! I did however do the "master cleanse" for 5 days during this time.

My counterpart's second wife, Halimatou Binta Ba, gave birth in the middle of Ramadan. A week following Isatu Lamaran's birth, a "denaboo," or naming ceremony was held. Isatu got her first haircut, and Halimatou was given lots of soap, I got her a washing board, a couple really cute baby completes, and the evening concluded with a nice meal of cheb rice (traditional Senegalese oily rice dish seasoned with tomato Adja) after of course breaking of fast once it got dark!

Halimatou with her daughters, Isatu Wuri and the newborn, Isatu Lamaran

Cooking the feast!

My host mom Adama Dian with the finished product

The last day of Ramadan is determined by the moon, and the following day is a celebration known as Korite. In my village it consisted of praying in morning by the Arab school since we do not have a mosque and then cooking all day and eating a lot of fancy food! Often, it is a time when people if they can, buy new completes (traditional Senegalese clothes). I helped my mom cook which was fun. I bought "funio," a nutritious cous cous grain, sweet potatoes, potatoes, onion and carrots to contribute to the meal. They also bought meat, so it was quite "patron," if you will! After eating lunch at our house, my host mom and I brought a bowl over to the women's group president's house along with a few other women to share dishes that one another made. So much food over two hours! There was a soccer game in the evening and was very reminiscent of Thanksgiving, watching a sport while I was completely stuffed (although very different in terms of the food, and the sport: soccer on a grass field before sunset vs a football game on television).

My host mom, her daughter Binta, and our neighbor, Binta