In September, Muslims celebrated the end of Ramadan with a holiday.  In Mandinka, the holiday is called Sali Nding, meaning "Little Prayer," as opposed to Sali Baa, which is coming up in November and is the "Big Prayer." Importantly, Sali Baa also comes with bigger presents for the kids, in addition to bigger prayers for the grown-ups. 

Volunteers like to complain about Senegalese holidays -- they're boring, people waste a lot of money, everyone talks about how great the meal will be and then it's not even that good, etc. -- but really they're not that different from American holidays in their structure, and I kind of like them.  It goes something like this:  About a week ahead of time, the kids all get new outfits which they may gaze longingly upon but may NOT wear until the holiday arrives.  A few days before the holiday, the frantic food-buying, hair-braiding and feet-hennaing begins.  Much to my village's dismay, I continue to refuse to have my hair braided in cornrows, but I did give in and let my friend do henna on my feet

Lala and Mamanding cut medical tape into strips to make the pattern on my feet

Putting the tape on

She put henna paste over the tape, then I put a plastic bag and a sock on each foot and left it on overnight

Voila!

Henna is made from a plant and the normal color is the reddish brown you see above.  However, Senegalese women like their henna to be black, maybe because it shows more on their skin or just because they think it's prettier?  I don't know.  But in order to make it black, they put this white paste stuff on their skin after doing the henna.  You can buy it in the market and they call it "manioc," which is the French word for cassava, even though it is definitely NOT cassava.  I know this because it smells horrifically like ammonia ... maybe it's some kind of hair dye.  Anyway, I refused it.

Mamanding, my friend who did my henna, did the same pattern on her feet and I was watching as she applied the "manioc" to her feet.  I noticed there was something else in the paste that looked suspiciously like the small granules of plant fertilizer farmers here use on their cotton plants.  I asked and she told me matter of factly that yes she was rubbing fertilizer on her skin.  Why?  To make her henna look nice, duh Shannon.  I told her she should put it on her field instead.  

So on the morning of Sali Nding, everyone woke up in a great mood, particularly because we all got to eat breakfast for the first time in a month!  The kids put on their new clothes and jewelry, and then they walked around the village asking for money from the adults.  When they had exhausted the supply of loose change in Djinkore, a huge group of them took off to walk to a nearby village to annoy people there.  The women started cooking lunch about mid-morning, and everyone generally just sat around visiting for most of the day.  When someone came by to greet they would say to each person "Forgive me" and everyone would say "I forgive you, forgive me too." 

I remember being disappointed last year by the food we had for Sali Nding with my training host family in Mbour.  Not this year!  It was delicious.  I think that's due to my decreased expectations though, rather than an increase in food quality.  We had a tomato sauce with macaroni, potatoes, beef, and onions, all served over rice AND with bread.  Normally if we have meat in the village it's from a cow, goat or sheep that was killed by someone we know and we buy a sampling of just about every part of the cow -- intestines, stomach, organs, bones and a tiny bit of good meat.  So I have a policy of just not eating meat in Djinkore, because it's nasty.  But for Sali Nding, Kouye bought some good beef and I pointed out the pieces I would eat before they cooked it.

Sali Nding lunch before cooking.

Mmmmm.

And now, the highlight of the day.  A few weeks before, a group of young women from my village asked me to join them in getting matching outfits for the holiday, which is just kind of a thing to do here.  So we each put in some money, went to the market together and picked out fabric, and went to the tailor and got measured.  He didn't finish making our clothes until the afternoon of Sali Nding, so we put them on just as the sun was going down, which partially accounts for the terribleness of the following picture.  The rest of it is due to Kouye taking the picture and not really getting how to use a camera...

Takes me back to the days of matching mother-daughter Laura Ashley Easter dresses.  Remember that, Mom?  :)