Nossa Senhora di Graca, and Site Placement

Nossa Senhora di Graca, and Site Placement Announcement

So there’s been a lot happening over the past week or so and there hasn’t been any internet access, so I’ll try to catch you up.

First of all, this week was festa week in my village. Almost every village on every island has a festa (a week-long party), which honors a saint. In the case of Txa di Tanki, the saint is Sonora di Graca, and the festa is one of the biggest in Cape Verde. I think there are about 1500 people living in and around Txa di Tanki, but there were about 6000 here for the day of the festa. During the evening, all week long, there were women’s batuku (traditional music and dance) groups from all over the island, the play that the local kids put on, vendors selling everything you can think of on the street and the best part…a stage, microphones, huge speakers, lights and power supplied by the kamara (city hall) in Assomada to facilitate all of this.

Definitely the scariest of these events was the Miss Txa di Tanki contest, wherein girls about 6 to 12 years old competed in a batuku contest. If you’ll recall, although in Cape Verdian culture, batuku is considered “traditional” and is not, according to locals, supposed to be “sexy,” it doesn’t change the fact that it is without question the sexiest dance imaginable. Thus, essentially the winner of the Miss Txa di Tanki contest is a darling, sweet, little girl of about 9…who can dance like porn-star-stripper on crack. Different Cutlure.

The events went on, literally, till dawn each day. The ENTIRE town goes every night, all night, no exeptions...even my 80 year old parents. My host mom actually told me the night before the festa started that I shouldn’t plan on sleeping for the next few days. I consulted Peace Corps and they suggested I “get some resta before the festa.” Outstanding.

For the festa proper, this is how it unfolds…Someone steals the statue of Sonora di Graca from the church in Txa di Tanki the week before the festa, and then on the day of the festa (15th of August) the thief begins a huge procession that starts in a village on the other side of Assomada, winds through all the villages in the outlying area, accumulating people all the time, before eventually making its way back to the church here for Sunday mass. (6000 people surrounding a tiny church that holds maybe 30). This year it was AFRICA hot, people were walking (up and down mountains) for as many as 5 hours, all dressed in the Sunday best, carrying umbnrellas, reciting prayers that were lead by the preacher, who rode in a car with a microphone. It was definitely something to see. After a 2 hour mass (I watched from my roof), the real party started.

During the days leading up to the festa, the sound of screaming pigs, goats and cows was inescapable, and I wan’t exactly sure why. Well, turns out the entire town had been butchering their best animals to cook and eat, and after mass, each and every family from Txa di Tanki returns to their house, opens up its doors and puts out the biggest goddam spread you’ve ever heard of. (Some people had actually moved their furniture out of their house to make room for more guests.) Then everyone…and I mean everyone, EATS. Astounding, startling amounts of food are consumed. It’s epic really. Stews, casseroles, chicken and dumplings, pies, cakes, kabobs, grilled meats, wine, flan, pudding, yogurt, rice, grog, veggies, candy, catxupa, home made orange paunxe. I have never in my life seen as much food as was on display that day, and that’s the god’s honest truth. You, as a visitor to Txa di Tanki, are expected to eat and drink, and eat some more, at EVERYONE’S house. Forget the N sta fartu. (I’m full!) No excuse. Forget the N dja akaba janta dja. ( I just finished eating!) No excuse. If you don’t eat all their food and cake and drink all their beer and wine, you might as well have slapped them in the face. It’s pure and unadulterated gluttony.

It seemed silly to me, to have all this excess in a place where people barely have enough to get by, until my neighbor explained to me that that’s exactly why they have such a festa. For 364 days out of the year, Cape Verdians worry about food, they worry about rain, and they worry about their crops. Then, for one day in August, they put all of that behind them, and just let loose, have a good time, and eat like most of us Americans.

The other big news in recent days was site announcement. In the end, I got EXACTLY what I wanted. I’ll be going to Txa di Igresia, on the island of Santo Antao. I will officially be further (by far) from Peace Corps headquarters and next closest volunteer than anyone else, which makes me VERY happy. (I’m also, pretty much, as close to Austin as I could possibly be while still being in Cape Verde!) Essentially, I’ll have to walk about 30 minutes up the ribera from Txa di Igresia, and then find a car for a 45 minute trip over the mountain to get to the next volunteer, Laurie. From her house, its only about 15 minutes to a big town that has internet, a market, a bank, cafes, etc.

Txa di Igresia itself, is ideal. If you remember my last entry about it, its situated halfway up a ribera, on the northern coast of the northernmost island. Its about a 20 minute walk down the mountain to a gorgeous, sandy beach, which is otherwise completely inaccessible except by a 4 hour walk from a town called Punto di Sol. It’s a tiny, clean little village, and I expect I’ll have met everyone that lives there before the end of my forst day there. It’s a little scary to be going to such a small place, but its staggeringly beautiful. Also there’s the flat. I’m on the top floor of a 3 story flat. Its plain and simple, but has a brand new “kitchen,” and private access to the roof of the whole building. IDEAL. (I took the attached picture from this roof.) They also have power most of the time at night, and part of the year, running water. I’ll be doing God knows what while I’m there (Peace Corps has yet to really help define my role as a Community Development and Youth Mobilizer), but I do have some ideas already. More about that later.

In any event, yesterday was the last day of the festa. I’m currently running on about 7 hours sleep in 5 days, and although I’m happy beyond belief about site announcement, I’m a total zombie. Looking forward to Sunday morning “sleep in,” which, over here, means about 645AM if I’m lucky.

I Hope All Are Well. Send some e-mails!!!