Okay, so today ended up being absolutely incredible!
It all started inauspiciously with chapel as usual, but this time they had a full Eucharist for the first time we've been here. The most unique thing about this service was that after blessing the wine, they poured it into what could only be described as stainless steel shot glasses and then handed them around after the wafer. It was most unusual to see everyone gathered around the altar downing shots. It felt a little inappropriate for a church, but I guess that's communion Tanzanian style!
It seems like today was brought to you by the word 'church', because the next stop for the morning was down to the big parish Church for another service. All the young Lutherans from Machame who are going for confirmation get confirmed on one day each year at a big service and today was the day! Mr Mushi had invited us to come as his guests to the church, because his two nephews (George and Calvin) were getting confirmed. This was quite an honour, so of course I said yes.
Unfortunately, what I didn't realise was that there were 163 other children who also had to get confirmed today as well. They had to use four priests and an assistant bishop just to get through all the laying on of hands. It was the longest church service I've ever been two, lasting at just over three hours. Worse, it was all in Kiswahili and I only understood about 10 words, most of which were 'amen' and 'hallelujah'. The hour-long sermon was probably the low point. Plus, I got lots of weird looks as I was the only mzungu (white person) in the whole church.
Thankfully, going to the service was quite an awesome musical experience. If we thought the chapel singing was impressive, this was something else! There was an organ, keyboard, guitars, brass band and many choirs, all used at different points in the service. There was also much clapping and cheering and general joviality. Tanzanian women have this unique way of cheering, as they make this 'ololololololo' noise, which reminds me a lot of the sound that American Indians make when about to launch war on the cowboys. It's hard to describe, but certainly sounds impressive when about 500 women are doing this at once!
The service finished about midday, but what I didn't realise was that things had barely begun! Over here, confirmations are treated with the same importance as weddings, so we now had to head to the reception! We did this by driving through the streets of Machame in a massive convoy, with horns blaring and loud music playing. People were dancing on the back of moving utes, which looked fun (although probably showed exactly why so many orthopaedic surgeons are employed up here). Being the guest of Mr Mushi had its extra benefits, as he is a highly respected elder here at the village and church. I rode in the front seat of his car at the head of the convoy and he really got into the spirit of horn honking. It was quite amazing to hear the type of tunes he could coax from a solitary, highly irritating note. It seems there are no bounds to this great man's talents.
So we drove like this all the way to Mr Mushi's brother's house, where a huge party and banquet had been set up for the two boys. The front yard was full of tables and chairs, all facing a kind of stage where George and Calvin sat as the guests of honour. I was lucky enough to sit on Mr Mushi's table and got to meet his wife and one of his daughters. I really feel like an honourary Mushi now, which was potentially the greatest and proudest moment of my life. Right up there with the time I beat Benjamin's high score at doodle jump.
The party was a lot of fun, with the highlight definitely seeing Mr Mushi in a conga line. I joined in too and thoroughly enjoyed my first taste of being part of a real African conga!
The next stage was this kind of ceremony, where they wheeled in a freshly barbecued entire goat (mbuzi) complete with vine leaves stuffed in its mouth and slices of cucumber for the eyes. The goat was then theatrically carved in font of everyone, before George and Calvin had to embrace each important family member and put a piece of goat in their mouth. First came his parents, then godparents, then aunts and uncles including Mr Mushi. But then to my complete surprise, I heard my own name called out and so I had to come up onto the stage in front of everyone while I awkwardly mimicked the kind of shoulder pat/hug thing everyone had done and had some goat fed to me by these young boys. It was so cool, and a massive honour to be one of only a small group of people who got to do this.
Next, the banquet started. There was so much food including potato, which was so good as I haven't got to eat one since leaving Australia! Yum. It was an amazing meal, except for the course of boiled cow intestine. This was slimy and disgusting and make me want to throw up. Mr Mushi saw that I was struggling with this, so he kindly gave me a massive glass of Tanzanian cognac to wash it down. This made for a rather unfortunate combination and I thought I was about to die. Luckily I survived without making a mess and moved on to eating the rest of the goat instead.
I have discovered that Tanzanians absolutely love making speeches. They normally seize any little moment they can get, but clearly a big celebration such as this was interpreted as a licence to go for gold. There were so many looooong speeches and much shaking of hands and women making that ololololololo noise. Much hijinks was had by all.
The night progressed with much fun and dancing, until it was time to go home. This was an amazing day and I still can't believe it all happened. Best. Day. Ever.
Kwa heri,
Michael Mushi
Things that went wrong: Day 10 edition
- Basically, that it all had to end!
No comments:
Post a Comment