Salone for the Holidays

Post by Lara

24 February 2013

As requested, this post will be about Christmas and the holiday season in Sierra Leone.  First, an overview of religion in Salone: the hard numbers seem tough to pin down, but it seems the population here is mostly Muslim with a prominent Christian minority (we’ve heard Muslims outnumber Christians 70-30, 60-40, and 55-45. We’re really not sure which of those is most accurate, but if I had to guess I’d say maybe 60-40).  Salone is also quite unique among African countries and the world at large because Christians and Muslims coexist here with no problems to speak of.  As an example, our host mother is Catholic. Our host father is Muslim.  The kids are split, partly because they are not all the biological children of both of our host parents. Our host mother’s own mother was raised Catholic but converted to Islam because she moved to a village with no church and plenty of Muslims, and she wanted more than anything to belong to a community.  The prevailing question when you meet someone new here is not, “Are you religious?” but rather, “Are you Christian or Muslim?”  Because of this prevalence of both religious groups, holidays for both traditions are celebrated by everyone.  Pray Day, the last day of Ramadan, is a public holiday, as are the Prophet’s birthday, Christmas, and Easter. For those who do not celebrate a holiday through religious ceremonies, they will still often celebrate with a trip to the beach, a dance party, or at least a visit to some friends and family. 

So with all that in mind, Christmas season was a special time of year here, even though it didn’t exactly feel like Christmas to us.  Radio stations were playing upbeat, reggae versions of several popular Christmas carols.  My personal favorite was the one that goes, “Mary’s boy child Jesus Christ was born on Christmas Day”.  The African version is quite peppy compared to what you hear on 99.9 FM in Dayton.  Schools closed around the 2^nd week of December for 2 weeks, and we decided to do some traveling during that time.  We were in Makeni, a city in the north, for a week of training, so instead of going home we caught a ride to Freetown and spent the week before Christmas in the nation’s capital. 

Instead of sprawling indoor shopping malls, Freetown has PZ (pronounced “Pee-Zed” because we speak British English here), a large area of the city that is jam-packed with shops and street vendors, somewhat organized by what they sell.  Depending on where you are in PZ, you can buy new clothes, thrift store clothes, textbooks, electronics, food, kitchen appliances, a live goat, and just about anything else you can think of.  Despite the difference in environment, Christmas fever was still in the air, and numerous stalls were selling jewelry, perfume, and gift sets all over PZ.  We spent an afternoon shopping for school books and football (read: soccer) jerseys before stopping for some shawarma and Dr. Pepper, both things we cannot buy anywhere near our town. 

The Peace Corps hostel in Freetown was merrily decked out with a Christmas tree, garlands, and paper stockings for all of the volunteers in the country, and we spent some quality time with several other volunteers who also decided to avail themselves of running water and supermarkets for a while.  We put together a homemade lasagna supper one night, and then Josh, another volunteer, wowed us with one of the best apple pies I have ever eaten, paired with vanilla ice cream that Kevin and I sprung for as a Christmas gift to the volunteers at the hostel.  On December 23^rd, a group of us donned our swim suits and hopped in a taxi to visit Aberdeen, one of the city’s beaches. We hung out at a beach-front bar and sipped cold beer and a tequila sunrise while local artists walked up and down the beach selling their wares. We ended up buying one piece—a map of Sierra Leone by district, showing where different products originate, such as rice, sorghum, diamonds, fish, etc.

On Christmas Eve we traveled to Bo to spend the holiday with our host family.  A few weeks earlier we had stopped into Bo, bought fabric for Christmas clothes, and had them delivered to our tailors so they could make them while we traveled.  Our host sister Emma loved my fabric so much that our host mother went and got her a yard of it as well, and Emma and I went ashabi [“in uniform”] for Christmas mass.  One of the neighbors came over and planted (braided) my hair.  Below is a photo of us with Amie, Effe, and Emma all dressed up before leaving for church.

Christmas Eve mass began at 10pm, which is generally well past our bedtime.  We showed up early for Christmas carols sung by the choir, and then a short play by the Sunday school classes.  By the time mass started I was about to fall asleep, which is usually par for the course at midnight mass in the states as well.  Much like Kevin’s parents’ parish back home, churches here very seldom offer short services.  Many of the songs were the same, but had an African tempo and flare to them—Silent Night, The First Noel, etc.  After communion, we ducked out and walked from the church down to Obama, a bar that broadcasts football games. Our host father was waiting for us there with his car. 

On Christmas morning, we slept in as long as we were able (about 8 am) and then hung out with our family at home all morning. Almost all of the kids in the compound got sunglasses for Christmas, and we gave the whole family hand-dyed gara, which is considered the nicest fabric to have clothes made from here.  Our host father fired up his generator and turned on the TV which was playing, of all things, the Sesame Street Christmas special that my parents recorded eons ago and we used to watch every year.  In the early afternoon, we loaded into the car and spent a few hours “patrolling” around Bo visiting friends and family. Everywhere we went we were offered a seat and a cold drink, and we spent about half an hour chatting and catching up before moving on.  Toward evening, we stopped into a newly opened hotel outside of the city and sat outside by the swimming pool while Amie and Emma played on the swing set.  Papa bought us soda and beer, and Kevin bought some popcorn to share.  We stayed until after dark, and then went back to the house to eat dinner and watch a movie.

The next day we traveled back to our town with our host family, who were going to visit our host granny who is my sister’s and my namesake (Emma Gbessay).  In our town, there was an “outing,” or a big party, on the 26^th.  We did not attend since we were totally exhausted from two weeks of travel.  The rest of our school break went a lot like breaks do at home—sleeping in, taking day trips when possible, and going out to the bar in the evening now and then. 

So, there's our holiday season in a nutshell! It was definitely strange being somewhere hot and not seeing our family over the holidays, and we most certainly missed all the familiar people and places that make Christmas so special for us, but we made the most of it this year.  Next year we hope to fit in a short trip back to Ohio for the holidays, so this will likely be our only Salone Christmas.