New Year celebrations with fishermen in Porto Novo

It was the first weekend in the New Year and we went walking towards the sea in Porto Novo. We walked towards the place where we heard music and saw people dancing under a huge canopy.

As soon as we got there we were offered seats and asked to join in the fun. There were men dancing in the centre and women dancing at the edges. Michael asked permission to take photos and they agreed but in exchange they asked him to join in with the dancing.

Well, I was very surprised when he did join in. There were smiles all around and high fives everywhere. Michael danced the local dance and that got a lot of laughs for two reasons, one that he joined in and for his energy but the second because he had such difficulty getting the movement.

In the course of this dancing we found out that it is one family of fishermen who are celebrating the New Year. We were introduced to the elders and leaders in the family and offered trips around the lagoon, of course at a cost. It was good to be able to join in the fun with this huge family although it was just for a short while.

Michael complained about aching legs for days after that, a reminder of the muscles he did not know he had!

Experiences on the way to a Yaka Shrine in Dassa Zoume, Benin

Guest appearance in a religious video!

On our way to the shrine on a hill in the centre of Dassa Zoume, we came across a group of people with videoing equipment and men and women dressed in traditional clothes. We stopped to gawp at them and although they had finished filming their sequence, we were asked to join in. At first I thought it was only the dancers but then another woman also joined us and we found out that they were making a religious video. The group was called “Princess Toyissa” and we both joined in the dancing. The body movement which they do so well is alien to both of us so everybody patiently showed us what to do but nobody told us we were rubbish at it! Regardless of this, we were both filmed dancing with the group and singing with Princess Toyissa. So somewhere there will be people watching a religious video and suddenly these two foreigners will appear making fools of themselves.

Preparations for Arachid sauce:

On our way back down from visiting the Yaka shrine (Michael will tell you more bout the shrine in another blog entry soon), we had to go through a small community. There I was invited by a woman who was grinding pea-nuts on a rock which had a natural shape to allow women to use another smaller stone to grind whatever they need to prepare food. What was really good was that this was a communal grinding place for the community so women would take turns in grinding spices or pea-nuts for lunch or dinner. I was thanked for my help and asked if I liked Arachid sauce (spicy peanut sauce) and my response was I love it but my difficulty was not being able to eat it as usually people put fish or meat in the sauce.

Another interesting thing about the woman was that she was carrying a doll stuck in the waist band of her skirt. Twins are revered in many countries in West Africa and are said to have special powers. Twins never die their souls always stay within the families. The reason why this woman was carrying a doll was because her twin had passed away but she would dress the doll in the same clothes as herself every morning and get the twin to taste food before she took any and generally treat the twin as if s/he was still alive. Failure to take care of the twin would bring bad spirits into the family.

So not only was the shrine interesting but getting there and back was a great experience and we found out more about the beliefs of the community.

Rita and Osmond get married

We have never met the couple and yet in a typical Ghanain way we were invited to Rita and Osmond’s wedding. The wedding,which also included an engagement ceremony, took place at Grace and Perry’s house as Rita has "adopted" Perry as her father, although her father was there at the wedding as well.

Grace said the wedding would start at 11.00 so we got there an hour late to find we were one of the first guests. So we got ready to sit and wait. One would think by now we have got used to this, but no, all I could think about was what I could have been doing in this time! The only consolations were sitting under a mango tree so we were cool and a little girl adopting Michael as she suddenly appeared and climbed into Michael’s lap and then just looked at him. Make note of Michael's shiner! He got it trying to fight the bouganvilla in the garden but of course he does not say that to everyone.

Grace and daughter Selase were busy hosting the event so we chatted to Perry and his friend Richard. After nearly two hour’s wait, the engagement ceremony started. The groom’s side and the bride’s side were sitting facing each other and the groom was already in his seat. Rita’s sisters were sent to fetch her from inside the house. One of the sister’s made a big thing about how far it was and that it would cost the groom’s side some money for her to fetch her sister. So the best man gave her some money and then she repeated this trick twice and got more money. Rita was then brought by her sisters and sat down facing Osmond. Then there was a debate about whether Rita is the bride Osmond was looking for so there was some checking out to do. Rita’s brother got up at this stage to say that as he is going to loose the woman who does his cooking the groom has to compensate him before e can check his sister out. There seemed to be a deadlock as Osmond or his family could not agree on what Rita’s brother should get so the Pastor intervened. He speeded up the process by getting Rita’s brother to negotiate with Osmond later. So then Osmond checks Rita out and agrees yes that is the woman he wants to marry and invited her to join him. Some family members from both sides were then sent back in to check the presents and see whether this matched the list that had been already made. In the meantime we had a DJ playing popular songs.

Yes the gifts matched the list so then rings were exchanged and the engagement ceremony was over. We were informed that now Rita and Osmond would go to church and get their marriage registered. So more waiting. What neither of us realised was that Rita had gone back inside the house to change. She came out half an hour later with this amazing dress and a pink hat and was driven to church. More entertainment by the DJ and refreshments for the guests, many of them started dancing. Perry danced with his two dogs (Perry said they hated the noise as they are used to a quiet life). We were to go hungry some more as snacks were not suitable for vegetarians.

On the return from church, Rita and Osmond sat at the head table and a chairman gave a short speech followed by prayers from the pastor, and more music and dancing. As the only yevu guests, we had to be introduced to the guests, which was most embarrassing and we waved self-consciously when our names and what we do in Ho were announced. Nobody went to talk to Rita and Osmond and they did not talk much to each other either. Michael said Rita looked bored just like Indian brides at their weddings! The wedding ceremony ended after closing prayers and then food was served. Grace had cooked for us as she knew the caterers would not have prepared anything vegetarian.