A New Year in Farafangana
My choir just celebrated New Year’s on Saturday, so it’s not
too late to write a blog post about New Year’s, right? Seriously though, I am so sorry
for the looooooong break between blog posts. I don’t really have a good excuse
to give, but I am going to try to do better during this second half of my YAGM
year!
New Year’s (taom-baovao in Malagasy, but most people refer
to it in the French: “bonne année”) was a pretty big deal in my community. The
celebrations last much longer than just New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day... as
a testament, the fact that my choir just celebrated on March 3rd and it was
totally normal.
Like the other holidays I have spent in Madagascar so far,
New Year’s Eve and Day were pretty different than the traditions I am used to in
the US. My New Year’s Eve was not spent watching Dick Clark/Ryan
Seacrest/whoever’s Rockin’ New Year’s Eve. In fact, it was spent in church! Starting
at 10pm (but actually not until 10:30 when the Pastor showed up), there was a worship
service. After the brief service, there was a variety show of sorts, where
people came up and sang or danced or did standup comedy until midnight.
While we were waiting for the service to begin, I was
chatting with my friend Viviane and her husband about New Year’s traditions.
Viviane’s husband asked me what we usually do in America for New Year’s, so I
proceeded to try and talk about what a typical New Year’s Eve looks like. I tried
to explain about watching a huge glass ball move down a pole, and watching
various artists do performances, and watching Fergie talk to Ryan Seacrest when
it’s already the new year on the east coast but the west coast is still stuck in
the past. I tried to explain the tradition of eating greens and pinto beans on
New Year’s Day (for money or luck or something?)… And all of it just sounds so
strange! Why a giant ball? Why do we kiss people when the clock strikes 12? Why
is the big event in New York where it is freezing?? Why does that lady always
end up doing snow angels in the confetti left over on the street after all the
people have gone home? WHY do we do all these things and HOW do you explain
that to someone who has never seen it before??
Quickly, realizing how odd everything sounded, questioning my own New Year's traditions in the US, and having
trouble talking about all of that in my limited Malagasy, I changed the subject
and asked Viviane’s husband what they usually do for New Year’s! His response
was much less complicated than mine. He said: “We do this! We come to church.
We end the old year in the same way we start the new year – in prayer.”
“Oh, okay,” I thought. While us Americans are going crazy
over a giant, sparkly ball, my Malagasy community (8 hours before) rings in the
new year with God in their hearts and on their minds. And sure enough, when the
clock struck 12 (aka: the woman DJ-ing the variety show checked her phone and
declared that it was midnight), there was no kissing or wild screaming of “HAPPY
NEW YEARS!” Many people remained in their seats, praying.
Afterwards, we began
the “fiarahabana” – a New Year’s greeting of 3 kisses on the check (left,
right, left) and the saying “Arahabaina tratry ny taona.” As soon as you had greeted everyone, and I mean, EVERYONE,
you were free to go home. After taking some New Year’s pictures, some of my
friends from choir walked me back to SeJaFa. Little did I know, the party was
still rockin’ and rollin’ at the school where I live! As soon as someone let me
in the gate, they invited me into the refectory (dining hall) where a lot of the staff, and
the students who didn’t go home for Christmas break, were still dancing,
snacking, and having a great time! So I hung out and danced - a tradition that
is a little more consistent with what I am used to, even though the dancing is
not the same at all - until 3:30 in the morning.
Later that morning, I woke up at 6:30 to go to breakfast
before I went to New Year’s Day church. (Yes, there was a church service that began at 8am on New Year's Day.) After church, I went home and fell very
asleep, and was awoken by Ramatoa calling me to tell me it was time for lunch! Lunch was a feast, and after lunch, my host brother took me to the beach – a tradition
that also felt familiar to me, since my family usually spends New Year’s Eve at the beach!
When New Year’s Day was over, the celebrations didn’t stop. I
celebrated New Year’s with the teachers at the primary school on the first
Friday in February, and I just celebrated New Year’s with my choir. An
important part of the culture in my community is to give everyone a New Year’s
greeting when you see them for the first time in the new year. So occasionally,
even now, I’ll hear someone say “oh, I haven’t seen you yet??” and then proceed
to do the three kisses New Year’s greeting. It is still the new year, after
all!
One big New Year’s tradition in Farafangana (it may be a
tradition in the whole country, but I can’t say for sure since I’ve only spent
New Year’s in Farafangana) is to bring a goose to important people in your
community. One of my favorite things about the language surrounding this practice
is that people of importance are referred to as “ray aman-dreny” – the Malagasy
phrase for “parents.” So with the teachers at SeJaFa, and again with the
teachers at the primary school, I went and visited one set of community "ray aman-dreny" (who also happen to be my actual host parents, since my host dad is the synod
president). These visits open with prayer by the visiting party, a speech is made
by a member of the visiting party, and the goose is presented. Then the “parents”
pray, make a speech, give candy to the visiting party, and then the whole thing
ends with another prayer or a hymn. The primary school teachers and I also visited
the head pastor of our church (my site supervisor), Pastor Frement, and his
wife, to give a goose. During my choir’s celebration of New Year's on Saturday,
we gave a goose to “ray aman-dreny chorale” – the President of AKRIFA and his
wife. So many geese! So many parents!
My choir had a picnic lunch at CoCo Beach to celebrate the New Year! There were games, dancing, soccer, and fellowship all afternoon. |
Another shot of the picnickers. |
Some of my choir friends and I down at the beach! |
Everything looks beautiful there: the trees, the beach, the people! And what a beautiful way to greet and honor one another for the new year and to start the year off right: In thanks and prayer to God! Love you, Katie!
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