new years

The New Year is here! It was celebrated here on the 1^st. I know back home everyone celebrates on the night of the 31^st, but in my town of Togo nobody was really up doing anything that night. It wasn’t until the next morning, when I woke up to see the people in my compound had killed and were preparing a turkey, that the fêteing began. Throughout the day, the family that lives in the same compound as me was constantly making food. It was delicious. There was foufou, rice, turkey, and of course tchouk. I took a walk around my town to see what everyone was up to. People were out and about, walking from house to house, visiting people and wishing happy new years. They all had on nice tailored suits, or their best pagne shirts and dresses.

That afternoon I went over to the town center where there was the huge traditional dance happening. A group of about 15 people where huddled in a small circle playing about of different percussion instruments. Then around them, there was a crowd of well over 200 people dancing. All of this happening over a floor of dirt caused a cloud of dust to hover over the crowd. Plus, lots of people had baby powder, and were throwing up in the air and on each other. There was also the way people were dressed. A bunch of guys were dressed like girls, and a girls like guys. People had feathers and leaves sticking out of their hair. Some people had noise maker things tided around their ankles. Others had metal rings that they wore on the tips of their thumbs and middle fingers. The whole time while dancing, they would be clinging these rings together to the beat of the drums.

The festivities went on all day and all night long. I have no idea how long Sotouboua stayed up, because by 11pm I was totally beat. I ended up falling asleep to the sound of music blasting and people dancing.