Allen Guest Blogs From Africa V

Dressed-up in my tailored boubou, hand-made with fabric I chose at a market in Dakar.

The Marabout, or religous Muslim leader, addresses the Mosque at Tabaski prayer prior to his sacrifice.

Massive group of Muslims pray at and around my family's local Mosque in Kaolack

My Senegalese father’s father had two wives and 16 children, all of whom are now grown. For each Tabaski, all of the family meets to celebrate. Most of the Dieng family still lives in Kaolack on a “compound” of three basic houses. Some of the Diengs, like my host father, left Kaolack for the large city of Dakar for work opportunity. Most of Muhamet’s brothers and sisters now have children of their own. You can imagine the size of Tabaski in our family!

Tabaski occurred on Friday, December 21st, beginning with a morning
prayer at the Mosque. We all wore our fancy, new boubous, including me. Three weeks prior to Tabaski, I selected fabric at an open market in Dakar, and then had a boubou tailored for me. I was so excited to wear it, and equally excited to attend prayer at the mosque in it!

All of the men pray at the mosque together, with a large group of women in the distant back. Being Tabaski, the crowd was very large, and I was quite the oddity in the crowd. I “went through the motions” of prayer (i.e. bowing), but truly had no idea what I was doing. After prayer, we watched the Marabout (religious leader) sacrifice the first sheep. We then returned to the Dieng compound to sacrifice 10 sheep, prepare a massive meal, and best of all, eat!