The One About Fêtes

Well, after a month of daily posts and almost no pictures...it's time for a change!  I've got lots of pictures that have accumulated over the month or so, and today we'll start with fêtes.

 

The first fête [holiday, celebration, party]: Tabaski.  It's huge here.  People often get fancy new outfits made for the occasion, there are lots of promotions/discounts in the stores, and almost every family buys a sheep to kill.  And eat, naturally.

 

 

Last year, the folks across the street bought their sheep (plural - there were three or four up on the roof last time) several weeks before the actual holiday.  This time, a lot of people (at least on my street) waited until just a few days before.  I was told it because there were a lot more sheep in the city this year, so they could afford to be more picky.

 

 

One last meal, Buster.  (Or whatever you'd name a sheep.)

 

 

Yes, they were taking him out of the trunk.

 

Go ahead, animal rights activists, stage your protests.  (But know that it won't do any good here.)

 

 

I got a picture (through the peephole of my front door) of my neighbors leading their uncomprehending victim up to the roof.

 

 

Getting ready for the big party (notice the big stack of brown plastic chairs)

 

 

Roasting some of the meat

 

Imagine an entire city roasting lamb mid-day...boy, did it smell good on my walk home from church that day!  (Now imagine the smell of the following day or days, after an entire city has slaughtered sheep and needs to dispose of sheep guts...)

 

 

 

- - -

 

Then we had a "Harvest Fest" at a nearby (and largely ex-pat) school.  I hadn't planned on going, but at the last minute I changed my mind.  I went with Marie-Claude and two other girls, and it turns out a lot of my other friends were there, too.  So that was fun.

 

They called it "Harvest Fest", but it was sort of mix-up of celebrating Summery things, Fallish things, and some things the were just plain American.

 

There were...

 

 

Funnel cakes

 

 

 

Lines for games

 

 

 

Lots of food - pulled pork, chicken sandwiches, and corn dogs, for starters

 

 

Snow cones (all those bottles you see are flavored syrups to mix with the crushed ice)

 

 

Toys (prizes? just trinkets for sale?  I'm not exactly sure.) 

 

 

They even had a catch-the-greased-pig contest.

 

Cue the animal rights activists again...

 

 

There were very (very!!) dirty children, due to afore-mentioned contest

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

Jenn (fun friend and former classmate) and I were like, "Hey, look!  We're twins.  We have to take a picture!"

 

A good time was had by all.  Except maybe the greased pigs.

 

- - -

 

Finally, there was our ladies' meeting at church this Sunday.  We ate together before the meeting...

 

 

 

 

 

 

The menu: salad, chicken and beef (both breaded), and an onion sauce served over vermicelli

 

 

I'm pretty taken with this little guy.  Aren't his chubby cheeks just...irresistible?

 

 

And since yesterday also happened to be Angèle's birthday, we finished the meeting (which lasted a whopping four hours!) with singing and chocolate cake.

 

Chocolate cake, my mom used to say, is the only kind of cake.  (And I actually believed her.)