Sunday, April 11, 2010
And I'm out!
The time has come and tomorrow I hit the road for 2 weeks in the field. I will be taking a car to a boat to a hike to the village of Ambalabe. I will be there for 1 week meeting with the women's organization and local people so we can work together and establish a community garden of useful plants. Then I will take the dreaded 6 hour hike to the forest to collect plants for a few days. Then I do everything in reverse and come back to Tana. At that point I will attend the African Taxonomy conference and give a presentation about my work here. Then I come home! I can't wait for this all to unfold and capture some great pictures and entertaining stories. Hopefully I will learn more Malagasy at the same time. I will be back April 25, so check back then for updates!
Somebody's getting MARRIED!
As I mentioned earlier, I was in Antsirabe for a special occasion. A wedding celebration! Since I am learning about and working with Malagasy, it was deemed very important for me to attend the first step in the marriage process of Monique's sister, Sylvia. Now, it was explained to me several times that the Malagasy wedding had three steps. First, it was the traditional wedding, then the legal wedding and then the religious wedding. After witnessing the first step I would liken it to a very elaborate engagement process. Here is how the first ceremony went...
First the boy and his family come to the girl's family home (or selected place of venue). They are invited in* and sit in chairs facing the girls family. In the center is a little table. Each family has a representative that will speak for them. This might be a family member or friend of the family. This person must be good at public speaking, because any errors they have in their speech costs the family money! Also, they are there to negotiate with the other family and therefore must be skilled in debate. I was sitting on the Sylvia's side of course, and directly facing the window, so I apologize for not stellar pictures.
The representative of the groom speaking to the bride's family. The groom is directly to the left of the speaker.
*I was told that one way to test a groom and his family was to wait up to 2 hours to invite the family into the house to begin the ceremony. This would see if the groom was serious about marriage and test his reaction to unfavorable situations.
There is a prepared speech each representative gives. If he messes up, there is a penalty to pay. This family was late to the ceremony, so they gave money for that too. Also, there is money given in apology for speaking about the bride in front of her brother (a taboo). Finally, money is giving for the actual bride and marriage. There is a sort of debate that goes between the two families. I, of course, did not understand all of it, but there was laughing, there was signing and after about an hour of discussion the brides family accepted the proposal. I might mention, this is all done without the presence of the bride. After it has been accepted the bride is escorted into the room by her groom.
The bride sits next to her groom and is presented with a bouquet of flowers by her new family.
Of course this is no ordinary bouquet of flowers, no. Hidden in the flowers is her ring. She must find it in order for the ceremony to go on! She searches while her groom gives her hints.
Once she finds the ring, she hands it to the pastor and he blesses the rings and everyone prays.
Then the groom places it on her finger and they kiss. Everyone claps, oohs and aahs.
Then, both families take turns blessing the couple with water. Much like a baptism, both are sprinkled with water that has been blessed with money and jewelry. The bride was pretty smitten with her ring, she was admiring it for the rest of the ceremony.
After the ceremony ended, we all had a big feast together! Now, it was my mission not to be in any of the pictures (on Joe's suggestion) and just be an observer. Well, as we were being seated for dinner I was shocked when they put me right next to the bride and groom and the head of the room! So much for being a fly on the wall! Luckily the bride and groom both spoke English well, and were just so happy they didn't care the vahaza was sitting front and center. After dinner, the bride leaves with the grooms family! I was told in the rural areas, the brides family sends the grooms family with many gifts but the grooms family can't open them until the have gotten home. Often the gifts are rice and items the new couple will need in their home, but sometimes the family will throw in random rocks to make it seem heavier! Tricksters!
Bye Sylvia! Good luck with your new family!
First the boy and his family come to the girl's family home (or selected place of venue). They are invited in* and sit in chairs facing the girls family. In the center is a little table. Each family has a representative that will speak for them. This might be a family member or friend of the family. This person must be good at public speaking, because any errors they have in their speech costs the family money! Also, they are there to negotiate with the other family and therefore must be skilled in debate. I was sitting on the Sylvia's side of course, and directly facing the window, so I apologize for not stellar pictures.
The representative of the groom speaking to the bride's family. The groom is directly to the left of the speaker.
*I was told that one way to test a groom and his family was to wait up to 2 hours to invite the family into the house to begin the ceremony. This would see if the groom was serious about marriage and test his reaction to unfavorable situations.
There is a prepared speech each representative gives. If he messes up, there is a penalty to pay. This family was late to the ceremony, so they gave money for that too. Also, there is money given in apology for speaking about the bride in front of her brother (a taboo). Finally, money is giving for the actual bride and marriage. There is a sort of debate that goes between the two families. I, of course, did not understand all of it, but there was laughing, there was signing and after about an hour of discussion the brides family accepted the proposal. I might mention, this is all done without the presence of the bride. After it has been accepted the bride is escorted into the room by her groom.
The bride sits next to her groom and is presented with a bouquet of flowers by her new family.
Once she finds the ring, she hands it to the pastor and he blesses the rings and everyone prays.
Then the groom places it on her finger and they kiss. Everyone claps, oohs and aahs.
After the ceremony ended, we all had a big feast together! Now, it was my mission not to be in any of the pictures (on Joe's suggestion) and just be an observer. Well, as we were being seated for dinner I was shocked when they put me right next to the bride and groom and the head of the room! So much for being a fly on the wall! Luckily the bride and groom both spoke English well, and were just so happy they didn't care the vahaza was sitting front and center. After dinner, the bride leaves with the grooms family! I was told in the rural areas, the brides family sends the grooms family with many gifts but the grooms family can't open them until the have gotten home. Often the gifts are rice and items the new couple will need in their home, but sometimes the family will throw in random rocks to make it seem heavier! Tricksters!
Antsirabe (An-seara-bay)
On Friday and Saturday I was lucky enough to get invited to a Malagasy wedding! It was the sister of my coworker Monique, and took place in their hometown of Antsirabe, which is 2.5 hours south of Tana. I had been to Antsirabe last year just to eat dinner on the way back from the field and thought it was a lovely place and wanted to go back to see some more. Well, I was completely right, Antsirabe is awesome! It is the agricultural center of Madagascar and also the place where THB, the national beer, is made. Yup, exactly my kind of city.
First things first, the Star Brewery where THB (stands for Three Horses Beer) is brewed:
Like many Malagasy cities, Antsirabe is built around the equivalent of a Plaza de Armas or town square. Only instead of the city hall or church anchoring the square, the train depot is the main focal point. Here is the train depot of Antsirabe:
On Friday night we headed to this area to hang out and have a beer. It was clearly the place to be as people were all over drinking beer, riding bikes, getting pushed around in Big Wheels, eating grilled meat and singing karaoke. Antsirabe is in a valley and gets cooler at night than even Tana, which means it felt REALLY nice outside. I had a THB Fresh, which is beer mixed with lemonade and quite possibly the most tasty beverage EVER.
Antsirabe is also known for its ranumafana, or hot thermal water. We went and saw the baths, and sampled the water that runs from the earth. It was disgusting, but the local kids got a kick out of watching us pucker after drinking it and then chugging a glass down themselves.
Posing at the watering hole before tasting it:
Taking a break from flying kites to show the vahaza (foreigner, me) how to drink the water:
Antsirabe was first a get away for the rich in the capitol of Tana. Its cool climate, flat topography and thermal baths quickly made it a tourist destination for the French. There are a lot of nice hotels and old foreign designed mansions here in Antsirabe, like this one:
Unlike Tana and other cities, Antsirabe doesn't have a bus system. Here you get around the city on a pousse-pousse, which is literally a guy with a cart. Somehow I did not get a good picture of this! But here is one I got from the internet:
There is your tour of Antsirabe! I hope if you ever find yourself in Madagascar, you make your way to this city.
First things first, the Star Brewery where THB (stands for Three Horses Beer) is brewed:
Like many Malagasy cities, Antsirabe is built around the equivalent of a Plaza de Armas or town square. Only instead of the city hall or church anchoring the square, the train depot is the main focal point. Here is the train depot of Antsirabe:
On Friday night we headed to this area to hang out and have a beer. It was clearly the place to be as people were all over drinking beer, riding bikes, getting pushed around in Big Wheels, eating grilled meat and singing karaoke. Antsirabe is in a valley and gets cooler at night than even Tana, which means it felt REALLY nice outside. I had a THB Fresh, which is beer mixed with lemonade and quite possibly the most tasty beverage EVER.
Antsirabe is also known for its ranumafana, or hot thermal water. We went and saw the baths, and sampled the water that runs from the earth. It was disgusting, but the local kids got a kick out of watching us pucker after drinking it and then chugging a glass down themselves.
Posing at the watering hole before tasting it:
Taking a break from flying kites to show the vahaza (foreigner, me) how to drink the water:
Antsirabe was first a get away for the rich in the capitol of Tana. Its cool climate, flat topography and thermal baths quickly made it a tourist destination for the French. There are a lot of nice hotels and old foreign designed mansions here in Antsirabe, like this one:
There is your tour of Antsirabe! I hope if you ever find yourself in Madagascar, you make your way to this city.
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