A question I've received from a few people back home - how do the Togolese celebrate this time of year, if they do? And the truth is, for the Togolese that do observe Christmas, the party taking place at home is very similar to that taking place in an American home...at least, in the essentials. Family travels from different corners of the country, a lot of food is prepared, there's enough booze to last until the next holiday season, and there's a greater willingness to give and to share. No there isn't an evergreen mounted with lights in the corner, or a sexy Leg-lamp in the window, but the market is just as absurdly busy as any mall in suburban America. I have never seen the Badou marche as chaotic as it was last Thursday, the last marche day before Christmas. Every inch of the square had a momma selling anything from ginormous yams to false gold jewelry. Not very many Togolese children will receive remote controlled corvettes or a Barbie beach house, but parents try to get them little knick knacks. Madame Bakadi was testing out a pair of kid sunglasses - in both purple and white - to give to her youngest child. The kids also like to get, what in the states would be gumball machine, trinkets. I was sitting at a boutique when a few 7 year olds bought a handful of tiny toy "guns" that came with sticks of gum. The gum was casually discarded but the little pistols, man, they provided wonderful distraction. They are about an inch long and the magic to them is that when the trigger is released the end of the barrel shoots off at your un-expecting target. My ladies – Madame Bakadi, Chang, and Bide – were all demonstrating. It made me laugh. Besides these, children also enjoy balloons and, rather naturally, any chocolate or sweet goodie they can get.
While the town is very lively for Christmas, only half of the population celebrates it (for my Muslim brothers and sisters, it’s cool but not that cool). Moreover, it's much more of a religious day (imagine that) than a "party." The biggest celebration takes place within the walls of your church. I went to an Assembly of God “convention” two Sundays ago. Members from 10 surrounding villages joined the Badou congregation. I arrived at church at 8am and around 1pm decided that I had all the religious blessings I needed for the day. In all seriousness though, I was very moved by the welcoming I received. After sitting with the “young girls” club for half an hour, the pastor invited me to join him at the front. As though I needed the extra attention? Yes, there was dancing, and yes I did join.
So what I started to say is that while Christmas is nice and all, New Year’s Day…well let's just say for anyone who can, it's perfectly alright to become heavily indebted in order to throw the fete everyone in village wants to be at – “mo’ money, mo’ problems”? No joke, the marche today brought me back to the Black Fridays I had as a frightened cashier selling Mrs. Field's Cookies in the mall. Everyone likes new things - a new outfit, a new set of earrings, new shoes – we all want to be all that and a bag of Cheez-its. And this must include new braids.
As I've written before, my neighbor has a small "salon" next door, i.e. women come to her house to get their hair done by one of the 14 apprentices she has. And getting new braids is what you DO if you're a young and trendy Togolese woman. I've lent my porch to be used when her space gets too crowded. And oh the weave that's bought!! Lucian was telling me about a book concerning the money choices of the less-privileged (disclaimer: I have not read this book so I am simplifying hundreds of pages worth of research) - how limited means do not imply that resources will all be devoted to necessities, such as food. The poor, just like so many of us, invest in what entertains them, what distracts them, what makes them happy. Some of these girls struggle to find 50 CFA for a bowl of beans, yet this does not prevent them from choosing their favorite color weave and getting new braids to welcome the New Year. Today, as we were sitting on the porch, one of the apprentices suddenly runs off around the corner. I ask the girl sitting next to me what happened and she tells me that the girl owes the jewelry woman, who is now walking towards us, some money. I laugh with them although part of my brain is a little distressed for these girls' choices. Is this rational or productive? No, I don't think so, and I give them older-sister financial hints. However, I'm not self-righteous enough to criticize them either. Have my financial choices been rational? Many people would say I could have gotten the same quality education at a public university as I did at the private one I chose…without the daunting debt. But I was very happy and at the end of the day that is what mattered to me. And while the consequences of these instances are different, I think that the irrational? choices we each made are rooted in the same basic tendencies. And it’s not a revelation to any of us: what we want isn’t always what is sensible and sense only satiates one source of our feelings.
As a final note, I will be spending the New Year with some of my new Togolese friends (and a couple of my new American buddies too J). Veronica and Ryan will be joining me here in Badou to indulge in the wonders of fufu, tchouk (aka chuque), waterfalls, and Togolese family. I’ll make sure to dedicate some pages on this after I recuperate from end of the year celebrations.
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