FETES ON FETES ON FETES: Part I

May 3rd

So there’s been a lot going on in my village for the last month. Lots of occasions for partying. Initially, I wrote one blog describing all of them. But. It was 6 pages long.

Thus, here is Part I – fetes unique to my village.

If you have the time to kill, read it along with Part II – a national fete and one in a neighboring village.

If you’re a bit occupied. Digest it as two pieces…

FETES ON FETES ON FETES: Part I

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

(previously sleeping girl fumbles out of her room and answers the door)

“The party has started!”

“What party?”

“The party of cows.”

So this conversation wasn’t in English ..but this is a real instance (occurring in a quite literal French translation) that happened when my homologue woke me up from a Saturday nap about 2 weeks ago. 

Now, I can’t speak for the entire country of Togo, but based on my experience in the Kabiye village of Kemerida, people here like to party.

I’ve already written blogs about Hiling (the huge coming of age fete for Kabiye men in which they take part in whipping duels) and Bonne Annee.

But turns out there are several more celebrations I can add to that list with an account from first hand experience. Instead of doing separate blogs for each, I figured I’d give you a big summary right here:

Fete du boeuf

Or party of the beef. Also known as Fete de vache. Party of cows.

When the father of a wife dies, her husband is required to buy her a cow at some point in the future to honor him. This could be up to 5 years later depending on how long it takes the husband to save money. He can also buy a sheep in the grandfather’s honor if the outlook of affording a cow isn’t too promising.

Each weekend in March and April is reserved for a specific quartier (neighborhood). During that neighborhood’s designated weekend, all the cows bought for the deceased who lived there are prepared. Saturday night the family (not a 4-6 person family, but more in the range of 30-40), along with all their friends and neighbors parade their cow through the village.

This is about the time Ben showed up at my house.

I quickly changed, grabbed these metal finger clinker things I was told to buy and stepped out of my compound. People were running down the street and yelling at me to hurry. Drums were beating and metal was tapping in the direction they were headed. I followed them with my eyes, which found their way to a mass of people running down the road leading to the chief’s compound. They were chasing a cow…

So, I ran too.

When I caught up, women were waving tree branches back and forth and miming how to use my clinker things. Once I got the pieces situated on my fingers, they encouraged me to dance/run with the mass behind the animal.

The cow had a string tied around its neck and one to each leg. Men holding them were running alongside it, keeping the animal supervised. Occasionally the cow would charge, the crowd would scatter, and the men maintaining its constraints would tighten their grip.

Following the parade as it turned down a hill, you could see another mass of people coming straight towards us, chasing another cow. I learned there were four cow parades going on at the same time that night. Four cows had been bought for that neighborhood this year, so all were being shown off to the village during the same evening.

The individual crowds would merge when coming across the same path in village. Everyone would pause for a dance, and then the parades would continue down their separate routes.

After the parades finished for the evening, more drinking and dancing went on through the night.

The cows would be slaughtered at 7am the following morning.

Sunday afternoon, my friend Augustin who was honoring his wife’s father with a cow this year, asked me to come celebrate with his family and photograph the occasion.

He was very insistent I take tons of pictures of the massive cow carcass they had yet to butcher. It had been cut into 2 large pieces and skinned. The bulk of it just lie in a huge basin, collecting flies as it awaited the evening’s ceremony.

After getting lots of pictures of the mass of meat and drinking plenty of Tchouk, the family geared up to transport the cow back to the quartier of the grandfather. (It was killed at Augustin’s house in a different quartier.) A woman, with the assistance of two men, hoisted the cow carcass onto her head. People followed with basins full of salt and rice. There was drumming and dancing all the way to the final destination.

Each family with a cow to offer took over a housing compound. Here they cut the meat, divided it amongst family members and began preparing some of it to be eaten that night. There was also a short ceremony to honor the grandmother.

She sat in the middle of all the family members and close friends and drums would play. The surrounding people were singing and would take turns giving her money. They would stick coins to her forehead and try to put bills into the pagne wrapping her head.

Many families wanted it documented, so I was able to get into the action to take pictures.

Again, this account is from one weekend. And it happens for about 8.

Valeur

Every Friday of February and March in my village, there’s a coming of age fete for the boys turning 18 that year (pre-Hiling dueling).

They are required to catch, kill, and eat a dog.

Sadly (not sadly at all actually), I missed all of these ceremonies this year with my vacation time.

My friend Judith encouraged me to go next year, but I told her I was only attending the drinking and dancing portion. One dog and I’m headed home. She understood. One reason I really like her… most Togolese would laugh at me.

Other fun fact: I mentioned in my blog on Hiling that the boys in the final years of the duels wear headdresses. Turns out the headdress marks the men who have completed Valeur.

Read Part II for the Sola Circumcision Fete and Premiere Mai.