The power outage continues here in Zanzibar, with no end in sight. We’re trying to look on the bright side (ha), and Christmas with Kyle and Laura made that easier.
This being a Muslim culture, Christmas is definitely much more low-key than in the States, with the benefit of there being much less pressure to see the holiday as a shopping holiday and to be deliberate about what aspects of the holiday are worth celebrating. Music was a big part of the holiday for us, both at Christmas and during Advent at the Anglican Cathedral. The English services at the Cathedral have hymnals with lyrics but no music. As a lapsed musician who likes to keep in practice reading music by singing harmony, the no-music was tricky for me to get used to at first; I like being able to read what I’m supposed to sing. No such clear path is marked out in the hymnals here, but the harmonies that emerge sometimes in the 3rd or 4th verse, when people are familiar enough with the tune to branch out and experiment, are sometimes amazingly rich. We also had the unique pleasure of listening to the special Christmas concert put on by the Dhow Countries Music Society, which is a local music organization that offers a monthly concert by its students and faculty. A small audience followed the path of lit candles going up the stairs to gather on the refreshingly breezy third floor of the old Dhow Countries building to hear music ranging from traditional Taarab music (more on this in February, when we go to Zanzibar’s music festival), to Taarab-y Christmas songs (Jingle Bells will always remind me of this surprisingly effective syncopated version played by a student band with a lead violinist who evidently didn’t know the song well enough to notice that he’d dropped a note every few measures), and a terrific and un-Christmas-inflected set by Swahili Vibe (a very danceable Afro-fusion band). I love live music of almost any kind, and I’m really excited that we now know when and where these monthly concerts are—we’ll be back!
Santa managed to make it through to our apartment (magic needing no electricity). Calvin and I made sure that we were prepared, hand sewing stockings for everyone (4 of which pictured here) from two different kanga fabrics.
Christmas dinner was definitely non-traditional but no less festive. We got “chipsi mayai” (a local treat of French fries cooked into a sort of irregularly shaped frittata with eggs and hot sauce—don’t knock it until you’ve tried it!) at our favorite street vendor. For dessert, we went to Freddy Mercury’s Restaurant (named after Zanzibar’s own, of Queen fame) and although there was no ice cream or other desserts because of the blackout, there was cold soda, a refreshing treat.
We were so glad to be able to celebrate our holiday with Kyle and Laura, and we look forward 2010 here in Zanzibar, which will no doubt bring more surprises both pleasant and unpleasant, but also much learning together as a family.
No comments:
Post a Comment