Last weekend marked the re-opening of the local school building in Ifaty village, which is just next to the ReefDoctor camp. Ifaty is a poor village even by Madagascan standards and it suffers from having no fresh water supply - let alone other infrastructure like electricity. Most villagers live in bamboo huts and rely on fishing in the local pirogue sailing boats for their livelihood, often struggling to catch just a few small fish to feed the family. The village school was all but destroyed in February by the exceptionally strong cyclone and since then ReefDoctor staff and volunteers have been working to rebuild the school. As a result we were all invited to attend the re-opening event.
The first we knew of the sacrifice was the mysterious mooing noise that started outside our room at about 2am the night before. We later found out that this poor zebu (a cow with a camel like hump) was to be slaughtered in celebration. Traditionally this only occurs to mark significant events like weddings. The blood is mixed with rum and then drunk, whilst the meat is grilled or eaten as kebabs. We did not witness this although when we got to the school the large pool of blood could still be seen (see picture below) (one lady nearly slipped in it!).
It is also traditional here to slaughter a zebu to mark a boy's circumcision, a big celebration where all the extended family is invited. Due to the huge cost of doing so it seemed that as a zebu was already being slaughtered to honour the school opening, this provided an opportunity for local families to take advantage of. Apparantly 60 boys aged from toddlers to 27 years old received the operation on the day before the school opening.
The school opening itself was a series of speeches in Malagasy from the local mayor, president, head teacher etc. (which we didn't understand at all apart from the cutting of the ribbon) whilst the youths of the local dance troop provided entertainment. This was finished off with some dancing, which Ali of course was amongst the first to get involved in!
Another great blogpost and photos! Very interesting - this was certainly an experience. Circumcision rituals are always fascinating (and actually those performed by the Merina people in central Madagascar - not the same, I realise - have been the subject of much anthropological analysis.) Did you discover why there were some older boys? I'm wondering why the 27 year old (and any other other ones) hadn't been done before. But it seems to have ended with partying. How were Ali's dance moves? Thanks for this brilliant update.
ReplyDeleteWell Leila you now have a Zebu story to match mine ........Asaba 1994
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear that you are both well and enjoying the experience.
Keep up the good work.