Korite

Yesterday was the holiday marking the end of Ramadan which, from what I gathered mostly centered around food and new clothes. It seems that the central focus was celebrating the end of a month of sacrifice, that I had not partaken in anyway, but I still got to reap the benefits. The date of Korite depends on the moon so we had to wait until 10pm on Tuesday to find out that the Muslism brotherhoods in Senegal declared yesterday to be Korite or not. To add to the confusion the brotherhoods sometimes decide that Ramadan will end on different days. The Senegalese pay little attention to the Muslim world and instead focus on their brotherhoods and the Muslim culture within Senegal. We didn't eat rice or fish all day, in a pleasant turn of events. Aside from the good food we had some delicious fruit juices and bonded with the little kids in our family. A lot of children get dressed in nice clothing and go around asking for money Hallmoween-style, but the children in my family are too wealthy to partake in this tradition. Family members from all over Dakar stopped in to say hi and at night everyone went out to hang out with their friends and drink for the first time in a month. Drinking alcohol is still frowned upon in the Muslim religion, but the Senegalese don't seem to pay much attention to this. (We're anxious to see what going out is going to be like post-Ramadan; not having the whole club or bar to ourselves.) From a Western part of view this holiday is very difficult to describe; we attempted by comparing it to New Year's, Christmas, and Thanksgiving combined. I'm not sure if that gives you a decent picture, but I lived through it and I'm still a bit confused. Well I take off for the Gambia tomorrow morning so I'll update you on my travels when I get back!