toxola.

{ November 14, 2011 @ 9:00 pm } · { Uncategorized }

In the U.S., people talk about baby names practically on the third date, in Senegal, babies do not get names until a week after they are born.  Today, the twins (read below post) had their kunliiyo, which means literally head shave, which is a naming ceremony or baptism.

A kunliiyo is sort of like a baby shower, where people bring gifts for the baby like soap, baby powder and of course baby clothes.  There is a little clothing boutique in Saraya and since coming to Senegal I realized that I totally have the stereotypical woman gene in that I have baby fever and melt at the size of those tiny tiny clothes, so naturally I had to resist buying everything in sight.  I also wished that there was a babygap in Saraya instead of just this little boutique.

I bought these two adorable outfits, coordinating of course, one in purple and the other in yellow.  I go and sit by my friend Gouda (who introduced himself to me as ‘my name is Gouda, like the cheese’) and I show him the outfits I bought for the twins and he says Oh bup bup bup (equivalent of OMG in Malinke), Mbamoussa! You need to buy them in the same color, you can’t differentiate twins like that!  Oh god, what have I done… He went on to explain to me that twins are sorcerers and that if you try to differentiate them by doing something like buying them coordinating instead of matching outfits, they will put a spell on you at night while you sleep.  Sorcerer twins are not something I would like to mess with, so I run back to the boutique and thankfully, there are two yellow outfits there, no freaky Friday twin spells over here.

I head over to Nafadji with my matching yellow outfits, soap and excitement about seeing the little munchkins again.  This morning, before the shindig started, the women ask me what I am going to name the babies.  Ummm, I get to name these babies?

Yes, Mbamoussa! You are the toxoma, you get to name them!

What do I name them?

I don’t know, like your mom’s name and someone else.

So I named the babies Debbie and Liz, after my mom and her sister! I could not do Debra and Elizabeth because that would be far too difficult to pronounce (the American Rs do not fare so well here).  Then we go over to have the ceremony! Marielle and I got to hold the babies as the women shaved their head.  They keep the hair at home and use it to make traditional medicines if the babies get sick.  Liz peed on me during the ceremony.  Rude. (Note to self, no diapers over here…good for the environment, bad for my outfits)  Then the women strapped the little things to our backs and did a little circle dance around us and voila! All of the women also prayed that Allah will give Marielle and me twins as well, I hope to reverse this prayer when that time comes… We got to have the party treat, Deko, which is mashed up rice and sugar and has the consistency of play-dough.  The women sit around and pray and give out presents, it really is like a baby shower minus tiny sandwiches plus razors to the head.  I was just thrilled the rest of the day, I spent most of it reminding everyone of their names and working on pronunciation and name memory (their dad could not remember the names for the life of him).  Good thing Debbie and Liz get to meet their toxomas next month when my family comes to visit- mom remember to match those outfits!