New Years Celebrations
New Years was a big event here in Manhica for my host mother and me. We woke up at 5am and left the house at 5:30am, as she was told that we must be downtown by 6am in order to catch a chapa -the public bus to church. So we were at the place to catch the chapa at 5:55, a whole 5 minutes early. But unlike what we were told we waited at that point from 6 to 9am till our chapa came to pick us up and take us to chuch. It was an interesting morning, as we didn’t even have time to have breakfast, so without my regular instant coffee fix needless to say I was a little tired. But rest assured I was kept awake by all the hussle and bussle of Manhica, as there was an endless stream of people walking to and from downtown. And every 30 or so minutes a full wheel barrel of freshly slaughtered meat would pass us by, as we were waiting on the same street as the two local butcher shops.
Finally by 9:20 or so we were a full busload and we left for church. We took the main highway for about 10-15 minutes and then ended up going another 30 minutes on a little, sandy, trail of a road into the middle of nowhere. It was so beautiful the whole bus load (about 20 or so of us with a few children and babies) broke into song as soon as we started onto this road. They began to sing all sorts of songs until we reached our destination, the local Changana Church situated in the middle of nowhere. It appeared as though the rest of the church was waiting for us to begin the service as since as soon as we unloaded ourselves from the mini bus and paid the driver 16 metacais (equivalent to about 65 cents Canadian) each for the trip there, they all started to enter the church.
As I entered the simple church made of canniso (the branch-like material most traditional homes here are made of, which resembles bamboo) I nearly started to cry. I seriously had to hold back the tears; it was so beautiful and yet so simple. My host mom told me I must wear my best clothes and right before we entered the church she helped me to cover my head with a scarf/capilano (a capilano is a large1-2 metre sheet of colourul fabric that women use as a wrap around and/or put on their heads here in Mozambique). Everyone was dressed so nicely, the men mostly in tie and suit and the women in nice skirts, dresses and suit-jackets. The ground of the church was sand; most of the congregation was sitting down on their colourful capilanos. They all seemed to be sitting in specific sections as the children were in one section on the floor, a group of women were sitting on a low cement bench and then here was a large group of men at the back that stood at the back and were standing through the whole mass. As we entered and sat on our capilano the whole church was singing beautifully all sorts of songs- harmonizing perfectly. It was not long after we sat down that I was asked to move from the floor and sit at the front of the church in my own chair. I hesitated and insisted that I can stay on the floor with my host mother and her friends, however, with out much luck I was convinced that I should not be on the floor that I was a special guest and must sit at the front of the church in my own chair.
The pastor was a short, round & jolly man, who was very enthusiastic and gave me a very warm welcome. I was so impressed as he even got one man to do simultaneously translation of the whole service into Portuguese for me, as normally the service is only done in the local tribal dialect-Changana (the first language of my host family). The service was a 2 hour mixture of scriptures intermixed with amazing song and dance. The end of the service ended with a mini flash flood, as it started to rain pretty heavy. And since the church is made of canniso in many areas of the church it was also raining. They tried to continue the service despite the sudden down poor and many people brought out their umbrellas and we shifted from corner to corner taking cover from the rain. Eventually nearly everyone was soaked and we just sang in the rain and enjoyed the moment. The pastor didn’t seem to want to wrap things up and kept suggesting they sing another song and that we all start dancing and appreciate the rain that God had blessed us with on the last day of 2006. Eventually after many songs church ended and we all ran to the nearby village to await the chapa to pick us up and take us back to Manhica. By the time we reached the village we were all soaked and pretty cold (for the first time I actually felt cold in Mozambique!). Regardless of the cold and the rain the group was still enthusiastic and continued to keep good spirits, and continued to sing and dance. After an hour had passed we were all fed cornmeal with little pieces of meat in a curry sauce. Followed by warm black tea with condensed milk.
Finally after nearly 3 hours one of the clergymen offered to take us all back to town. So we piled about 25 of us into the back of a small pickup truck. As I am the white girl, I got to sit in the front with the driver and one young women and her baby. We got about half way down the little sandy road and something happened to the tire, so we had to get a spare and more than two thirds of the passengers had to get out and walk. Finally we reached the highway and hopped in a passing chapa and got back to town. As soon as we got home all I could think of doing was to take a warm shower and get out of my wet clothing. What an adventure!
After I prepared New Year's Dinner for my host family. With limited ingredients in the cupboards, I made hashbrowns, eggs, toast and pancakes! Later after a little nap I headed downtown to ring in the New Year with Marciana (my counterpart and co-worker) and many of our participants. All along the main street there were Djs on the sidewalk and people dancing along the streets! We didn’t stay out late, as it was raining and much to my surprise my normal path home became a river in a matter of a couple hours. So getting home after the new years celebrations last night was quite a maze and again another adventure, as I had to go in and out of different people yards, walk through half a meter of water, and walk through a garbage pile in order to get home. I must say it was quite shocking, and even more surprising today as there are very little signs that it actually rained that much. Where the water all goes I have yet to discover. Perhaps that will become my personal project for the week...
Finally by 9:20 or so we were a full busload and we left for church. We took the main highway for about 10-15 minutes and then ended up going another 30 minutes on a little, sandy, trail of a road into the middle of nowhere. It was so beautiful the whole bus load (about 20 or so of us with a few children and babies) broke into song as soon as we started onto this road. They began to sing all sorts of songs until we reached our destination, the local Changana Church situated in the middle of nowhere. It appeared as though the rest of the church was waiting for us to begin the service as since as soon as we unloaded ourselves from the mini bus and paid the driver 16 metacais (equivalent to about 65 cents Canadian) each for the trip there, they all started to enter the church.
As I entered the simple church made of canniso (the branch-like material most traditional homes here are made of, which resembles bamboo) I nearly started to cry. I seriously had to hold back the tears; it was so beautiful and yet so simple. My host mom told me I must wear my best clothes and right before we entered the church she helped me to cover my head with a scarf/capilano (a capilano is a large1-2 metre sheet of colourul fabric that women use as a wrap around and/or put on their heads here in Mozambique). Everyone was dressed so nicely, the men mostly in tie and suit and the women in nice skirts, dresses and suit-jackets. The ground of the church was sand; most of the congregation was sitting down on their colourful capilanos. They all seemed to be sitting in specific sections as the children were in one section on the floor, a group of women were sitting on a low cement bench and then here was a large group of men at the back that stood at the back and were standing through the whole mass. As we entered and sat on our capilano the whole church was singing beautifully all sorts of songs- harmonizing perfectly. It was not long after we sat down that I was asked to move from the floor and sit at the front of the church in my own chair. I hesitated and insisted that I can stay on the floor with my host mother and her friends, however, with out much luck I was convinced that I should not be on the floor that I was a special guest and must sit at the front of the church in my own chair.
The pastor was a short, round & jolly man, who was very enthusiastic and gave me a very warm welcome. I was so impressed as he even got one man to do simultaneously translation of the whole service into Portuguese for me, as normally the service is only done in the local tribal dialect-Changana (the first language of my host family). The service was a 2 hour mixture of scriptures intermixed with amazing song and dance. The end of the service ended with a mini flash flood, as it started to rain pretty heavy. And since the church is made of canniso in many areas of the church it was also raining. They tried to continue the service despite the sudden down poor and many people brought out their umbrellas and we shifted from corner to corner taking cover from the rain. Eventually nearly everyone was soaked and we just sang in the rain and enjoyed the moment. The pastor didn’t seem to want to wrap things up and kept suggesting they sing another song and that we all start dancing and appreciate the rain that God had blessed us with on the last day of 2006. Eventually after many songs church ended and we all ran to the nearby village to await the chapa to pick us up and take us back to Manhica. By the time we reached the village we were all soaked and pretty cold (for the first time I actually felt cold in Mozambique!). Regardless of the cold and the rain the group was still enthusiastic and continued to keep good spirits, and continued to sing and dance. After an hour had passed we were all fed cornmeal with little pieces of meat in a curry sauce. Followed by warm black tea with condensed milk.
Finally after nearly 3 hours one of the clergymen offered to take us all back to town. So we piled about 25 of us into the back of a small pickup truck. As I am the white girl, I got to sit in the front with the driver and one young women and her baby. We got about half way down the little sandy road and something happened to the tire, so we had to get a spare and more than two thirds of the passengers had to get out and walk. Finally we reached the highway and hopped in a passing chapa and got back to town. As soon as we got home all I could think of doing was to take a warm shower and get out of my wet clothing. What an adventure!
After I prepared New Year's Dinner for my host family. With limited ingredients in the cupboards, I made hashbrowns, eggs, toast and pancakes! Later after a little nap I headed downtown to ring in the New Year with Marciana (my counterpart and co-worker) and many of our participants. All along the main street there were Djs on the sidewalk and people dancing along the streets! We didn’t stay out late, as it was raining and much to my surprise my normal path home became a river in a matter of a couple hours. So getting home after the new years celebrations last night was quite a maze and again another adventure, as I had to go in and out of different people yards, walk through half a meter of water, and walk through a garbage pile in order to get home. I must say it was quite shocking, and even more surprising today as there are very little signs that it actually rained that much. Where the water all goes I have yet to discover. Perhaps that will become my personal project for the week...
posted by Laura | 9:18 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home