Ramadhan Celebration

This morning I looked out of the window and noticed there seemed to be some type of processional going on. Actually I looked out to see if there were vendors selling tomatoes on the street. Akilah wanted to purchase them to fix a meal. Everyone was heading towards the area near the Grand Mosque and Sultan’s palace. There were hordes of people, dressed in elaborate and bright Muslim garments, all heading in one direction.

Well we were thinking, there’s obviously something major going on, but before anything is done, we need to get some food from the market in order to eat. Wednesdays are usually market day in Foumban, however, as a result of the celebration for the ending of Ramadahn, 95% of the stores were closed. So we settled for stopping in a restaurant and having another bottle of pamplemousse.

After about a half-hour or so of talking, we heard what appeared to be cannon fire, and realized we were missing the festivities. So we quickly went to the area where we’d seen people gathering and saw entourages of various Muslim groups making there way past a dignitary-type area that was obviously where the Sultan was to be, and continuing on to the palace courtyard area.

Since neither of us had seen the Sultan, we were kind of excited at the possibility of being able to see him. However, it turned out we’d missed him. Another of Akilah’s students had come over to speak and during their conversation mentioned the Sultan had come and gone. Oh well.

But the processional of the groups (obviously the men and boys from earlier on who were migrating to this area) was actually very nice. We probably only saw about fifty percent of those that passed by. Some singing, some chanting, some playing instruments; but no matter what they did, each group stopped and gave homage to the dignitaries in the center. Now it may not have been the Sultan, but whoever it was sure got a lot of “kudos.” I say this because when the last of the groups had past, these dignitaries got up, and immediately people moved out of the way (or were told to by the Gendarme), there were two beach style umbrellas that were raised and opened to provide them with shade as they walked towards the palace area.

Folks were pushing and shoving just to look or get a nice picture. At this point, I took out my camera, but there were so many heads moving past that I wasn’t able to get anything close to a good shot. I really didn’t take it out before because of not wanting to bring too much attention to myself. One is already kind of self-conscious from the stares you get for being a foreigner, didn’t want to seem like a typical “tourist.” Hmph.

When this was all over we went back to the apartment and just relaxed; and relaxed, and chilled. Did I mention this is my first real vacation; ever?! Well we relaxed after stopping past the market again and going to a couple of stands to pick up vegetables for dinner.