The Fête du Mouton in Maroua

The Fête du Mouton takes place 70 days after the end of Ramadan. It is a very big event here and eclipses Christmas. It commemorates Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son Isaac, which happily was replaced by the sacrifice of a sheep. There is a Muslim ceremony at which a religious person (the son of the lamido in the case of Maroua, because the lamido had gone to Mecca) slits the throat of a sheep. After the ceremony those Muslims who can afford it slit the throat of their own sheep and cook it. A proportion is given to the poor and after the family has feasted there is much swopping of mutton with friends. In the Far North of Cameroon this lasts for three days.

Aicha's cousin did the needful for her (it has to be done by a male Muslim) and she provided a feast for a large population of volunteers, both VSO and Peace Corps.

Douroum

On the occasion of a volunteer’s birthday a group of us visited a very remote village in the Mandara mountains. At the end of a very difficult dirt path there is a surprisingly good “encampement” which is powered by solar panels and where they have good rooms and serve good food. The rooms are modelled on “boukarous”, round mud huts. A typical homestead in the Far North of Cameroon consists of a walled enclosure called a “concession” which contains several boukarous, one for the father of the family and one for each of his wives. The wives take turns to cook and also to visit his boukarou to service his other needs. Children live with their mother. The mountains and the villages around Douroum are very beautiful and the whole setting is very peaceful. We saw monkeys but did not have enough time to go in search of gorillas which also inhabit the mountains.