Tabaski With The Badiane Family (Vegetarians Look Away)

Note video clips of this day at http:/www.becauseoftime.org/ISD/ScenesDakar.html (Gallery 30).  For another view of Tabaski, see the Ducharme's blog at http://africansbacon.blogspot.com/2008/12/tabaski-part-2.html.

Eric G., Randi and I celebrated Tabaski with A. and his family.  It was an all-day affair, begun with the killing and dressing out of three sheep, followed by the preparation of food for two meals, a mid-day snack, and the main meal, served at about four o'clock.  In the late afternoon/early evening, following dinner, neighbors took to the street, dressed in their finest, to visit and greet and share in the sense of community and charity.

We arrived at nine-thirty, and led into a single room, cinder-block building, separate from the main house.  This was A.'s father's quarters, who was away visiting another wife in the Casamance, located in southern Senegal.  (A.'s father has three wives, A. is the son of his second wife.) The room would serve as our digs for the day.  There we stowed our stuff, lounged, and had our meals.

There were three sheep to be slaughtered, their throats cut, and the blood drained into a large hole.  The process was surgical, matter-of-fact, without fanfare.  It was done, and each of the animals were dressed out (to use a hunting term), and butchered.  The process took a couple of hours, with all males assisting, save the toubabs.  The women were cloistered in the back of the house, slicing onions, frying potatoes, preparing the grill.

I shot a lot of video of these events.  An edited version will be uploaded to http://www.becauseoftime.org/ISD/ScenesDarkar.html in the next week or so.  Avoid it if you're squeemish.

Two meals were prepared this day, a mid-day lunch and late afternoon dinner, both served on one large round tray, as is common here in Senegal, shared by five of us (the three toubabs, A., and a friend).  

Traditionally, all get dressed up in their new clothes following the afternoon dinner and head out into the community.  It was quite a site, the streets filled with colorfully dressed neighbors, meeting, greeting, and digesting.