Tobaski is a major festival for Muslims. It celebrates the occasion when Abraham was about to sacrifice his son Isaac, but Allah provided a ram instead and Isaac was spared. Consequently, for families that can afford it, celebrating Tobaski here involves sacrificing a ram. There will be prayers at ten in the morning and then the Imam will begin the sacrifice. After this, all will hurry home to their own compounds to sacrifice their ram too. It all makes our Easter bunny thing seem a bit lame.
There are always animals on the streets around here. But they have multiplied in number in recent weeks, and there are pens of rams on many street corners, where they change hands for thousands of dalasi. Ferries into Banjul bring trucks heaving with rams from upcountry Gambia and from Senagal and Mauritania. Last week I crossed by ferry into Banjul at night, and from the passenger deck looked down into an open lorry carrying rams. They were pushing and pressing and squashing each other as the boat swayed with the swell. Four men stood amidst the animals, pulling them out of the crush by their horns and dropping them into a different part of the trailer, to save them from suffocation. It was a constant battle as the herd pressed together.
Tobaski will be celebrated just before Christmas. There is still debate about whether it should be the 20th or 21st December this year. It should be on the tenth day of this lunar month, but there is still disagreement about which day the new moon was first sighted locally. But whatever, this event combined with Christmas will provide many opportunities for family celebration, feasting, and dancing. And drinking attaya. This country is never slow to seize the opportunity for a public holiday (but can be slow to decide what day it should be).
It is a long time since I updated you about my work here, so I have written an article called Justin’s Work 2, with details of progress in my team, SQAD, and a recent visit by our major donors.
