Although Foumban seemed predominantly Muslim, Christianity (mainly Protestantism) is also strong in West Cameroon. In fact Islam, Christianity and traditional religions have roughly equal shares there (an invention of one of the Bamoun kings was a religion that was a fusion of all three, but this did not last). We passed a large number of Christian, mainly Protestant, churches along the road, some very impressive constructions. There are also pockets of Christianity in the Far North, some quite fundamentalist. One volunteer in a village in the Far North told me about a church service that she was obliged to attend since the school she works in is strongly religious. She said that the preacher worked people into a frenzy and demanded that “fornicators and masturbators” come forward and repent, whereupon several complied.
The brand of Islam in Foumban is very modern whereas in the Far North it seems a little more fundamentalist and less flexible, e.g. with respect to dress, the role of women and frequency of prayers. In the Far North work is punctuated by prayers and buses stop for prayers. One of the practices which I least like here (because it seems to imply that women are subservient to men), and which happily is not very common, is that when some women need to address a man for a purpose such as to buy a bus ticket they crouch before him and present their money on outstretched palms of their hands, from which the man removes the money and in which he places the ticket and any change. A few women in the Far North are completely hidden behind black veils but some of them greet me quite cheerily when we pass on the road. Most Muslims of every age seem to practise, though a surprising number drink alcohol on the quiet (some of them hide their drinks underneath the table between hasty gulps). Nowhere in Cameroon have I seen any signs of militancy or sympathies with terrorist causes.
Last month in Maga I had to endure lound music and shouting from a neighbour’s wedding celebration which lasted four days and continued through each night. I was told that the bride-to-be’s mother invites her friends to a party at which they make contributions to wedding expenses, then the father, then the bride-to-be and then the groom-to-be each has a party, and after all that they have the marriage. A dowry is paid to the bride’s father (or to an uncle, if the father is dead). In both regions marriages are still arranged by parents, uncles and aunts. In an earlier blog I mentioned that a friend had been persuaded by his parents to marry a girl whom he had not previously met. Since then she ran off with another male friend and happily my friend does not have to go through with this arranged marriage. I heard of a particularly disturbing case of a young man who wanted to marry a young girl but his family could not afford the dowry. There was another suitor who was able to pay the dowry but the first young man deliberately made the girl pregnant to prevent the marriage. He later lost interest in the girl and did not marry her, which led to him having custody of the child, once weaned. It was brought up by one of his female relations. There can be somewhat devious aspects to the marriage transaction, as I learnt when a local man died at the age of 97 leaving 40 children, the youngest being aged 10. I commented on the fact that if one has a child at the age of 87 one clearly will not be able to provide for all its schooling. I was told that this is only considered important if the child is male and that in this case he can be married to a 14 year old girl who will have her education terminated and will be sent to work in the fields to provide for her husband’s education. Hopefully this practice is not very common.
It is currently Ramadan which is observed strictly here in the Far North (I have not been to the West during Ramadan). In Maga the range of foodstuffs available in the market is very restricted (but prices are higher than usual), the local bank closes early and work in general is at a slower pace since people pray more and are listless from hunger and from getting up very early. The first call from the mosque is at 3:00 a.m. rather than the usual 4:30 a.m. (in fact on some nights non-stop preaching is broadcast from the mosque). I think the 3:00 a.m. call is to wake the women so that they may cook a meal which can be eaten before dawn. During the day not even a drink of water can be taken, which must be very unhealthy since it becomes extremely hot most days. A practice which I find disturbing is that some Muslims (thankfully few) spit every minute or two all day (I think spittal is considered impure) and must therefore deplete what fluids they have. After sunset (6:30 p.m.) there is a big meal which starts with a sort of soup called “buie” which is easy to digest. The few who can afford it have another meal later. There will be a big feast at the end of Ramadan and everybody seems to need a new “boubou” (this is a traditional outfit, and the way people feel about it reminds me of the attitude to holy communion outfits among poor families in Ireland). Times are hard this year since the global energy and food crises have really hit prices here and severely affected people, many of whom were already struggling to make ends meet. Also Ramadan this year coincides with return to school, which has to be paid for and for which a new school uniform is also needed.
Ramadan is clearly a significant spiritual experience for most Muslims. A friend’s bar in Maroua which is usually buzzing every night of the week does virtually no business, even at week-ends. However it is said that some Muslims eat more during Ramadan than in other months because of the tendency to gorge themselves before and after the long day’s fast. I have heard different versions of the prohibition of sexual relations during Ramadan, one being that only those who are not married must desist from sex during Ramadan. I know of just one teenager who does not always observe the fast and does not always go to prayers. Other teenagers pray in my house and at times ask me to pray with them.
p.s. The prayers at the end of Ramadan were very impressive in Maga. A huge number turned out in colourful outfits and prayed in a large field beside the Mosque. I am told that business was booming in the bars in Maroua.
The brand of Islam in Foumban is very modern whereas in the Far North it seems a little more fundamentalist and less flexible, e.g. with respect to dress, the role of women and frequency of prayers. In the Far North work is punctuated by prayers and buses stop for prayers. One of the practices which I least like here (because it seems to imply that women are subservient to men), and which happily is not very common, is that when some women need to address a man for a purpose such as to buy a bus ticket they crouch before him and present their money on outstretched palms of their hands, from which the man removes the money and in which he places the ticket and any change. A few women in the Far North are completely hidden behind black veils but some of them greet me quite cheerily when we pass on the road. Most Muslims of every age seem to practise, though a surprising number drink alcohol on the quiet (some of them hide their drinks underneath the table between hasty gulps). Nowhere in Cameroon have I seen any signs of militancy or sympathies with terrorist causes.
Last month in Maga I had to endure lound music and shouting from a neighbour’s wedding celebration which lasted four days and continued through each night. I was told that the bride-to-be’s mother invites her friends to a party at which they make contributions to wedding expenses, then the father, then the bride-to-be and then the groom-to-be each has a party, and after all that they have the marriage. A dowry is paid to the bride’s father (or to an uncle, if the father is dead). In both regions marriages are still arranged by parents, uncles and aunts. In an earlier blog I mentioned that a friend had been persuaded by his parents to marry a girl whom he had not previously met. Since then she ran off with another male friend and happily my friend does not have to go through with this arranged marriage. I heard of a particularly disturbing case of a young man who wanted to marry a young girl but his family could not afford the dowry. There was another suitor who was able to pay the dowry but the first young man deliberately made the girl pregnant to prevent the marriage. He later lost interest in the girl and did not marry her, which led to him having custody of the child, once weaned. It was brought up by one of his female relations. There can be somewhat devious aspects to the marriage transaction, as I learnt when a local man died at the age of 97 leaving 40 children, the youngest being aged 10. I commented on the fact that if one has a child at the age of 87 one clearly will not be able to provide for all its schooling. I was told that this is only considered important if the child is male and that in this case he can be married to a 14 year old girl who will have her education terminated and will be sent to work in the fields to provide for her husband’s education. Hopefully this practice is not very common.
It is currently Ramadan which is observed strictly here in the Far North (I have not been to the West during Ramadan). In Maga the range of foodstuffs available in the market is very restricted (but prices are higher than usual), the local bank closes early and work in general is at a slower pace since people pray more and are listless from hunger and from getting up very early. The first call from the mosque is at 3:00 a.m. rather than the usual 4:30 a.m. (in fact on some nights non-stop preaching is broadcast from the mosque). I think the 3:00 a.m. call is to wake the women so that they may cook a meal which can be eaten before dawn. During the day not even a drink of water can be taken, which must be very unhealthy since it becomes extremely hot most days. A practice which I find disturbing is that some Muslims (thankfully few) spit every minute or two all day (I think spittal is considered impure) and must therefore deplete what fluids they have. After sunset (6:30 p.m.) there is a big meal which starts with a sort of soup called “buie” which is easy to digest. The few who can afford it have another meal later. There will be a big feast at the end of Ramadan and everybody seems to need a new “boubou” (this is a traditional outfit, and the way people feel about it reminds me of the attitude to holy communion outfits among poor families in Ireland). Times are hard this year since the global energy and food crises have really hit prices here and severely affected people, many of whom were already struggling to make ends meet. Also Ramadan this year coincides with return to school, which has to be paid for and for which a new school uniform is also needed.
Ramadan is clearly a significant spiritual experience for most Muslims. A friend’s bar in Maroua which is usually buzzing every night of the week does virtually no business, even at week-ends. However it is said that some Muslims eat more during Ramadan than in other months because of the tendency to gorge themselves before and after the long day’s fast. I have heard different versions of the prohibition of sexual relations during Ramadan, one being that only those who are not married must desist from sex during Ramadan. I know of just one teenager who does not always observe the fast and does not always go to prayers. Other teenagers pray in my house and at times ask me to pray with them.
p.s. The prayers at the end of Ramadan were very impressive in Maga. A huge number turned out in colourful outfits and prayed in a large field beside the Mosque. I am told that business was booming in the bars in Maroua.
Perhaps it is not appropriate to consider sorcery under the heading of religion but it is interesting to note that most people in the Far North believe in it. In fact I have not spoken to a person who does not believe in it. Recently in Maga, Guirvidig and Pouss there were similar incidents where suspected sorcerers were beaten up by the crowd and then handed over to the police. They were reputed to have the power to remove a testicle from anybody who shook hands with them. It is hard to work out what was really going on since even university educated people believe in sorcery. I think the explanation may be that sorcerers in Nigeria are prepared to pay large prices for boys' testicles for use in their rituals and perhaps those who forcibly remove them (hopefully not their parents) use sorcery as a smoke screen.
1 comment:
Tom, Hi again, Forgot to say how beautiful so many of the photographs are. Keep them coming! D&G
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