Deweneti - Eid Mubarak - Festival of the Break Fast

Above, the three things needed for a successful Korite. I had not one but two stylish outfits.
On the top right you can see the laax and finally the piles upon piles of chicken.

 As a follow up to my previous post about Ramadan, 

I wanted to share my experience celebrating Korite
in my lovely home of Dakar. 

Where I grew up in the United Sates, and in many places I've lived in the US, the calendar revolves around a handful of holidays. Notably, our own birthdays, Christmas, Thanksgiving, Halloween, the 4th of July, and maybe a few others.

Here in Senegal it appears to me that there are two main holidays: Tabaski (definitely the most important) and Korité aka Eid al-Fitr (in Arabic). To be on the safe-side, we can add two others that have a lot of weight: Christmas (even though its 95% Muslim) and the Islamic New Year (referred to as Tamxarit in Senegal). Korité is the Islamic holiday that marks the end of Ramadan and is sometimes referred to as the festival of breaking the fast.

The three things* that are needed for Korité (in addition to family and friends) are:
1. A new stylish outfit to show off
2. Lots of laax
3. Even more chicken

I was invited by my old house family and my friend Xam-xam to spend Korité at their homes. To get the full experience, I should have really went the night before when the preparations for the laax began. Instead, I was busy preparing my last sukaraa koor (Ramadan sugar aka gifts given during Ramadan) -- Bissap Juice!

Bissap leaves with mint boiling away. Dont forget the sugar. It made 4 bottles!

Laax is a chunky sweet mixture of millet and soured milk. After the millet is cooked, you scoop it into a shallow bowl and level it out. Then on top you at the soured milk (lait caillé). I've seen this sour milk to vary between thick milk to yogurt texture - both ways and every way in between is still delicious! This meal is eaten as a sort of late breakfast/brunch/early lunch type of meal. Its very heavy, and the portions are big. Remember, this celebration is the first day in which Muslims have been able to eat during the day.

Xamxam and I dressed to impress!

After binge eating laax, my hosts could see I was uncomfortable in my tight, rigid, un-breathable taille basse** and they gave me a beautiful pink gown so that I would be more comfortable while we chatted, made attaaya, and waited for lunch.

Attaaya in the making

A purit off! (purit is the foam at the top of the tea created by pouring it again and again and again)

As I've mentioned in previous posts, salutations and greetings are of the utmost importance here in Senegal. In my last post about Ramadan, I shared a short exchange that is added to regular salutations:

Person A: Baal ma aq - Forgive me (for all of my sins, everything I have done)
Person B: Baal naa la - I forgive you
Person A: Yalla nañu yalla boole baal - Allah has assembled us together and forgives us all
Person B: Amen - its optional to say Amen several times

Well, it turns out this short salutation is also said on Korité and for the several weeks and days following the holy month when you see someone for the first time. For example, your Aunt is in town visiting, the first time you see her you will both have this exchange. But you wont greet her with this exchange again because you have both forgiven each other. 

Finally, around 4:30pm, lunch was served. And what a beautiful plat it was:

Après l'effort de 30 jours de jeûne, le réconfort du repas de fête:
After the effort of 30 days of fasting, the comfort of the holiday meal

Decoration and set up of the communal plate is very important here in Senegal. It is part of the cooks job (aka the woman's job) to make the plate look presentable and appetizing. All of the food on the plate above was for only three of us!! 

  

Deweneti, which is part of the title of this post, means "May God give us life to see the next Ramadan!" in Wolof and is exchanged during the holiday along with the salutations above. 

After relaxing for a short while after dinner, I finally headed to my families house down in Mermoz just in time to see the kiddies wandering around.

Little Sedou, his wooden prayer bead, and bright yellow xaftan!

Noguiy with her cousins, Baay Fall and oops I forgot his name!

As part of the tradition here in Senegal (and possibly other parts of West Africa), after the main meal (añ in wolof, lunch), the well dressed youngsters parade around from house to house saying "Jox ma sama ndewenalu!" I havent figure out what ndewenalu literally translates to, but in this context it means money. So the phrase says "give me my money". Imagine kids going around on Halloween dressed in costumes asking for candy -- this is similar. You dont have to give much, anything from 10 cfa to 1000 cfa (2 cents to $1.70).

Kids participating in the tradition,
Collecting money from friends and neighbors

Dinner (rééw in wolof), although not as extravagant as lunch, also consists of a lot of chicken, or as they say in wolof, ginaar bu bari. After hours of hanging out, drinking tea, chatting, and visiting others in the neighborhood, I finally called it a night and headed back home to sleep.

Grandmere and I

Korité is a very special day that follows by a very holy month. It is on this day where people seek forgiveness from their friends, family, colleagues (everyone!) for things that they have done, whether intentional or not. This holiday is celebrated together and everyone wears their best clothes, usually freshly made by a local tailor. I was blessed to have been able to share this holiday with two families here in Dakar.

But don't think the celebrations are over just yet...

Approximately 70 days after Korité, they will be celebrating Tabaski

The biggest holiday of the year!

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And finally to end, another Wolof proverb:

"Yàlla, Yàlla bey sa tool"

Literal translation: ‘Invoke God, but cultivate your own field’

Metaphorical meaning: ‘Help yourself, God will help you’

*Every family is different and my celebrate in a different way. These three things are from my experiences thus far, and from what several Senegalese friends have told me.  

**Taille basse = traditional outfit usually for younger women that is made up of a top and a tight fitting skirt or a wrapper (2 yards of fabric that you wrap around you like a skirt)