les fetes

2 events. rather different...

last saturday - elections of the 'miss latino' in 'latino bar' - a popular bar in zinvie. organized by some rich director. 15 girls aged 16-20. lots of people inside and outside the bar. as yovos (the whites) we were sitted in the first row, even though we bought the cheapest tickets. meike was asked to be a member of the jury. horribly boring. till 5am. girls defilating in western outfits, then in local clothes (the only interesting thing), then answering questions (or not, as some of them hardly spoke french. eg. "what do you think about the emancipation of women?" "i'm against the emancipation of women. please, help me fight the emancipation of women"). oh, and it wasn't really "elections" as at the end members of the jury were asked by the director not to choose the winning girl, cause she "causes too much trouble". then we've learnt that there were some affairs between the girls and some prominent members of the community going on. in general - instead of a nice local party - a huge dissapointment.

today - the independance day and a party not far from the infamous 'latino bar'. we were rather reluctant to go there as it was one of the local rich bussinesmen who invited us (because we're yovos, that was too obvious). we decided to show up and make it as short as possible. but instead of a closed, chic party we expected, it came out to be a festival with a lot of people of all ages from the villages nearby. traditional dances (showing stories of fishing and hunting), local food, music, all people in traditional, colorfull bombas, proud of their heritage (and insisting on me admitting benin's superiority over europe). the bussinesman very helpful, nice and well-treating everyone. and zongbetos (ghosts - people hidden under a huge pile of straw, decorated with tiny statuettes on the top, turning around and dancing so quickly, that one can't see their feet which gives an impression of the straw floating in middair). in fact, zongbetos were everywhere today. they strolled the streets of the towns and villages. people are a little affraid of them. women can't touch them. they belong to the world of the dead. they speak in a loud, a little distant voice, sometimes about jesus.