Independence Day

Yesterday (June 26) was a big, big day -- Madagascar's Independance day. Munsa (who works for National Parks) decided to organize a small party to celebrate the day. S & I bought rum, toka gasy, and supplied what we needed to cook the goat that was walked over from one of the villages nearby. C & I came back for lunch (we left A in the forest to keep track of the lemurs we were watching) and Munsa made sure to show us the goat and asked if we wanted any pictures of it. I told him only if he was willing to pose with the goat, so none were taken. We did get some sugar cane to chew on though which was pretty funny -- C can never had it before. I saw one of the other guys (Ithala) staring at her behind me and I was wondering what was going on. He then said something to Munsa, who reminded me that you aren't supposed to eat the cane -- just chew. That's when I hear a giant gasp from C -- "What?! You aren't supposed to eat it?" and fessed up to swallowing it (which is what Ithala was staring at). Everyone thought that was hilarious -- silly vazaha doesn't know how to work the sugar cane.

Anyhow, goat meets its end and we come back from the forest early for the party. We had myself, S, A & C, Enata (random kid who hangs around getting in the way), Ithala (one of the guards) and his first wife and 3 kids, Lala (one of our cooks) and her husband Etuvani, Munsa and his wife (number 3) and their kid (I call him bucket-head. This kid has a serious noggin. It's like an orange on a toothpick. Or like my cousin when he was little), Elahavelo (who works for the Ecological Monitoring Team and for me collecting fecal samples), Fanamesa (other gaurd), and Asenay (Ithala's second wife).

The tables in the dining room were moved around into an L shape and everyone was seated all around the edge -- no backs to anyone. Munsa made a speech -- Malagasy people love, love the speeches-- and introduced everyone. It was pretty funny. He kept forgetting everyone's names so S & I would fill them in for him. We started out with some rum and goat 4 ways. Dried goat meat, ribs, intestines, and liver. The dried meat and the ribs were by far the best. The intestines-- too tough and liver was okay, but very liver-y (as it tends to be). After the goat was some papaya and sugar cane (more jokes about C). Then came the rice and some more goat in a watery sauce. It was fantastic and really reminded me of Thanksgiving or something similar with everyone sitting around the table (there was even a kids table -- mat on the floor).

Throughout dinner we had Malagasy music playing (sometimes way too loudly). So, we had bursts of dancing throughout the meal. These were always followed by applause -- often times started by the dancer themselves (Malagasy also really love the clapping. There's clapping for everything it seems). There was lots of rum and toka gasy all through dinner, which is probably why there was so much dancing.

Lots and lots of dancing. In particular, we had Asenay shaking it. We're talking badonka-donk. It was all about the butt shaking -- and S and C tried to learn a little of it. Malagasy women can definitely beat out the white girls when it comes to making the money maker earn, but I think everyone has fun trying (sorry S).

We had a great Independance Day. I think everyone was happy to celebrate another year of Madagascar, even though the last few months haven't been the brightest for the Grande Ile. One of our friends in Tana decided not to decorate his house this year for Independence Day -- there were too many problems and the government and the country were not something of which he was proud this year so why hang up flags for it? I understand his point, and see that even though things seem to be fine in Tana (at least as far as I'm concerned) there is still a very strong current of discontent running throughout secions of the capital. We really are out of contact with Malagasy news, so for all I know there could be another reversal of government, or new elections, or maybe they've decided on a king.