It all started with a "traditional" American Thanksgiving meal- all made possible with the help of a package from home containing all the necessary ingredients. We didn't find a whole turkey to stuff, but we made grilled turkey wings, stuffing, green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, mashed potatoes and a homemade pumpkin pie!
Charlie enjoying a grilled turkey wing and Meredith (a volunteer that lives near us) displaying the green bean casserole.
Bon Appetit! We were joined by one of our neighbor kids, Moreau- he wasn't thrilled with the American food, but he did like the mashed potatoes!
Charlie and Erik (our closest volunteer) grilling the turkey wings. Andrea, one of my students and the daughter of our neighbors, supervising.
Meredith and Miranna doing the prep work: Chopping potatoes and rolling out pie crust!
They do celebrate Christmas in Benin- at least in the South where we live. The North is predominately Muslim so I’m not sure if is the same in the North. Christmas is often referred to as a "kids" holiday. However, they don't believe in Santa Clause- if you ask anyone they'll tell you he is dead so how could he leave you presents?! You can imagine how confused they were when we tried to explain that Santa comes down a chimney and leaves presents in stockings! Children make masks (called Kaletas) and go from house to house singing and dancing in exchange for a small donation or candy. Its kind of like Halloween!
Gifts are not exchanged between families- mostly because of the lack of money. Families spend their money on buying a lot of food and drinks with which to celebrate. Families typically kill a goat or a pig, which are too expensive to be everyday fare, and have that with rice- also not something typically eaten on a daily basis because it is also more expensive. They invite friends and family over to eat and drink. On Christmas Eve we had some neighborhood kids over to make Caletas and then that night went to midnight mass with our neighbors. On Christmas day we went to a mass that the Catholic Church had at the health center where Charlie works and then we went to 4 different people’s houses to eat, drink, and visit.
Below: 1) Kids in front of our house in their masks singing and dancing- one even on stilts! 2) Miranna with neighborhood kids in a mask making session we hosted at our house. We saved all the goodies from our packages (ribbons, wrapping paper, etc) and were able to make some great masks. 3)Charlie helping the kids whom live at the health center make Kaletas.
New Years Day is a bigger celebration in Benin than New Year's Eve- mainly because it isn't religiously based. However, it is very similar to Christmas because it also consists of visiting friends, eating, and drinking. All-in-all it was a pretty low-key holiday, but we were happy to spend it in Lalo with our friends.
Next entry...and the celebrations continue.
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