The Fire Festival

Tonight was AMAZING!!!!! I really can't explain how much fun I had, but I'll write about it anyway. But first, I need to back up a second to earlier today. Around 3:00, I went to La Badi Beach. I didn't go Sunday because of the chickens (which turned out quite tasty but awfully chewy), so I thought it would be nice to go today. To get there, I took a tro-tro, my first tro-tro ride ever. The tro-tro is the main form of public transportation and is just another name for a crowded rickety-ass van. But seriously, the tro-tro is pretty awesome. You just have to wait at a little stopping point, find out where the tro-tro is going, and then hop on if it's going your way. It was only 2,000 cedis to go to the beach (about 20 cents), as opposed to a cab ride which would be about 20,000 cedis. However, if you're sharing a cab with 3 or 4 people, that price becomes pretty reasonable. But regardless, the tro-tro's are pretty sweet. NYU recommends that we don't take them, but I think that as long as I'm traveling in the city during the daytime, it's no more risky than taking a taxi. Half the taxis in the city don't have seat belts and some of the drivers are pretty crazy. They also like to drive 100 mph at night with no headlights on. So the tro-tro is not so bad, really.

But I'm getting a bit off topic. So I went to the beach and splashed around a bit. Much good fun was had. Then as I was getting out of the water, a few guys asked if I was leaving. I told them I was going for a walk and they asked if they could join me. So I said yes. One was Eric, who I just wrote about in another post. The other was Saliq, who actually turns out to be one of Rahsheed's relatives (it seems like everyone I meet is one of Rahsheed's relatives). Although I didn't know that at the time. Anyway, we chatted and became friends, exchanged phone numbers, met some norweigan guys wearing flamboyant speedos, and then parted ways.

But then, tonight, immediately after walking into my room after dinner, I get a call from Saliq. He tells me that he's at my school and that I should come meet him. At first I was a little skeptical... he seemed like a nice guy on the beach, but you never know, meeting some guy in the dark, quiet neighborhood... but then he said, "The program is about to start." When he said "program," I remembered that Jessie (one of the NYU girls) told me about the fire festival she was invited to. So I asked if the program was the fire festival, and he said yes. And so then I went with Jessie and several other people, thinking I would watch some tribal festival being performed or something. It sounded pretty cool. Fire and stuff.

For those who are interested, I will tell the history/tradition of the fire festival. The festival originates from the northern tribes of Ghana, so the people celebrating, though they live in Accra, all come from the north (well, most... after all, I don't come from the north, although I can be pretty convincing). The primary chief's son went missing one day, and so he told all of the villages to light fires and go around looking for him. And so that's the start of the fire festival. It also marks the New Year for these people. All are welcome to join in the festival, even those not from the north. This is where I was able to come into the picture.

So I got to the spot which was super-duper close. It was right by Auntie Adua's place. When I got there, there was a huge fire off the side of the road with some people dancing arouund it, holding up lit bundles of sticks and burning pieces of cardboard. Many people were in traditional clothing with headbands and white makeup, although most just had their shirts off. There was one guy (who I absolutely loved) who was wearing tighty-whities, a stuffed bra, and some sort of headdress. He was pretty amazing. And then there was another guy who had a blade in his mouth the whole night. Very strange. On the other side of the road, there were two huge speakers blasting music (I'm guessing music from the north... very African and very Muslim). And in between, there were people dancing all in the streets. Now is this my kind of party or what? It was incredible. Everyone was in such high spirits, dancing with so much energy, waving around flaming sticks and rubbing machetes against the road to create sparks. I couldn't help but join in all the energy, and everyone welcomed me gladly. After a little while, we took our little festival on the road and went around the neighborhood with our fire, drumming, dancing, and pure energy. Every now and then I would stop being so active and I would just walk and hold hands with Eric or Saliq. (Cultural note: In Ghana, people are a lot more touchy. By American standards, some things (such as pulling someone's pants up if they are too low) could kind of be seen as harassment. But here, it's completely normal to see men holding hands or dancing with each other, and there is nothing necessarily homosexual about it. I'll elaborate on this more in another post). I felt so welcome, so happy, so energetic, so free. I really hoped we would all get naked and run around the streets together. But hey, we had fire, so I guess that's the next best thing. I'm actually kind of surprised no one burst into flames during the whole shindig.

Anyway, we circled the neighborhood with much noise, fire, and energy. Whenever cars would come by, we would all block them from getting through for a second, dance and wave fire all around the car, and then we would let them go. They didn't seem too upset about it. I'd think it was pretty damn cool if I were them. As we came back to our original spots, most of the flames had gone out, but the energy had not. We all continued dancing pretty hardcore for another 45 minutes or so. Then we called it a night. I could've possibly gone on for longer, but I have my first day teaching tomorrow (community service), and I want to be nice and well rested. I can't wait to see how it goes. I'll definitely leave a post about it tomorrow or Wednesday.

And in other news, Harmattan is finally over!!! For those who may not remember (or perhaps I've never mentioned it), the Harmattan is the shitty season in Ghana when winds from the Sahara blow dust all over the place, making the air dry and dusty (which makes an interesting combination when you consider the fact that it's so humid here). According to locals, it was the longest Harmattan in 15 years. It lasted for almost a month I think. Last year it only lasted for two days. I didn't really think it bad, but it was giving a lot of people colds and allergies and such. So I'm happy it's over. Well, that's all I have for tonight. Hope you've enjoyed my ramblings.