Tamxarit

Tamxarit--or Tamkharit--is an Islamic holiday signifying the start of the new year on the Islamic lunar calendar. As with most holidays in Senegal, it is a time of great celebration and goodwill, and my host family is extremely excited. This year, we celebrated on September 9th. For a bit more background info, click this link https://www.au-senegal.com/la-tamxarit,102.html?lang=fr. It's in French, so use Google Translate if you too are not fluent.

My host family's first words to me once we were all gathered for lunch were: "It's Tamxarit! That means there will be lots of good food: large fish, perfect rice, CHICKEN" (yes, this was said with all caps), "and lots of dancing all throughout the town." Other stuff was said, but my language is still crap, so...yeah. The only thing I really knew about Tamxarit before installing at my site was that it's the closest thing to Halloween I'll get in Senegal. So of course I asked if there'll be candy, and my mother chuckled, shook her head, and said "Yes, there will be candy."

While eating lunch, there were two big pots boiling away already; and we don't eat dinner until 9pm, so I knew without a doubt some serious eating was about to take place. After lunch, I helped my mother peel some white beans--which let me tell you was not easy peasy, even with my longer nails. My mother was peeling 5 to my 1. Once finished, I shamefully retreated to my room for my daily after-lunch 3 hour coma.

The meal turned out to be cere (a millet couscous that basically tastes like sand but that I surprisingly enjoy), beefy sauce, and yapp (meat--most likely goat). It was delicious, and I would have taken a picture, but I dashed out of my room sans phone and scarfed down the meal. My apologies. But below is a photo of exactly how my food looked.

As for the entertainment, there was music and dancing for a bit, but the rains are putting a bit of a damper on the festivities. Thankfully the dramas that are on tv tonight are truly riveting. I barely understand 1/3 of it, and I'm still hooked. Korean dramas got NUTHIN on Senegalese dramas!