No Cobra Bites.. THANK GOODNESS!

This past weekend I attended a village initiation ceremony in South Eastern Senegal. Not only was the landscape breathtaking, but the ceremony was incredible and getting to see my friends was great. It was a weekend of firsts. Before this trip I had never been south of Tamba, I hadn’t seen a scorpion, I hadn’t met any animists, and I definitely hadn’t been around a ton of drunk Senegalese people. It was also pretty damn cool seeing village boys “become men.”

The annual ceremony took place in Salemata, an absolutely beautiful animist village in Bassari Country. I live in the flattest and driest part of the country, so seeing hills and mountains with bodies of water running through them was a bit overwhelming. My friends and I rented a truck and I got to sit in the back for the two and a half hour drive out to the village. The ride alone would have made my weekend but getting to see and learn about the Bassari lifestyle was also quite interesting.

We stayed at a pretty nice campemont and each day walked about 25 minutes up into the hills for the festivities. Most of the events took place in what seemed to be a village center but we later learned was the place where village families sent all their teenage children from the ages of 14-20 to live. It was a little collection of closely laid huts overlooking the rolling hills and about a 10 minute walk from the rest of the village.

Throughout Saturday night, all the men of the village dressed in their tribal costumes and circled the youth village, drinking, dancing, and blowing whistles, while the boys being initiated drank and danced behind them. Animals were sacrificed and a chicken was killed for each boy. The testicles of each chicken were cut open to learn the outcome of the next day’s initiation. If the testicles were fine, the boy would become a man, but if the testicles were black, something bad would happen in the next day’s fight and the boy was not permitted to proceed. After midnight all the men and boys went up into the hills.

In early morning, the boys and men descended on the youth village where we and other onlookers had gathered to watch. This time the boys had bows and arrows and were ready to fight the spirits of the village and be initiated as men, while the men representing the spirits were covered in clay and mud with masks and shields. All the men ran through the village, covered in mud and ready to fight; and in a valley down below the men or spirits and the boys met. At this point, the men and women in my group were separated. Only men were allowed to go to the valley to watch, while women had to look on from the hills up above. One by one a “spirit” covered in leaves and mud called each boy out to fight. Even from up above, watching the fights was really exciting. I watched boys get body slammed and have to take a second fight, while other boys beat the spirit down and won immediately. Regardless, they marched down as boys and marched up as men.

All in all it was a good and exciting time. I saw some scorpions and thankfully wasn’t bitten while I slept outside without a mosquito net. I also didn’t see any cobras! Alhumdalilay! I’m still alive and now I have some cool experiences to talk about.

Ps- My camera broke a couple of days before the trip so I don’t have any pictures at the moment. I’m hoping to get some from a friend. If it all works out I’ll post them soon.