Though born and bred a Muslim, I have lived and grown up with Christians and so consider myself a ‘Chris-Mus’, someone whose upbringing and values are a blend of Christian and Muslim ways of life. Above all have Christian whom am related by blood. So are many of my Gambian Muslims inter related.
My recollections in this piece are of the way Easter, the most important Christian feast, was celebrated during my growing up years in Banjul, capital of The Gambia, where I was born and raised.
The week leading to Easter Sunday, known as Holy Week, begins with Palm Sunday, the day Jesus, riding on a donkey, a lowly animal, entered Jerusalem to face his impending passion and death on the cross for the forgiveness of the sins of mankind. In The Gambia, Palm Sunday is locally called ‘dimass e sorrsorr’ in Wolof, because Christians, process around the city of Banjul and major towns waving freshly cut, young palm fronds and chanting hymns hailing Christ’s kingship and triumphant entry of into Jerusalem, where he was going to be tried and sentenced to death as Scripture says.
On Holy Thursday, Christians, especially Catholics, who form the majority, gather in churches in the evening to re-enact and commemorate the last supper Jesus had with his disciples, during which he informed them of his impending betrayal by one of them. At this service, the priest washes the feet of twelve persons selected from the congregation to remind worshippers of the humility demonstrated by Jesus when he did the same for his disciples in spite of being their ‘master’.
As a boy, the day I looked forward to with great anticipation was ‘Good Friday’, the day on which Jesus was crucified. This day was, and still is, commemorated by Christian Catholic youths, especially teenagers, making an effigy of Judas using jute rice sacks and straw, and dragging it along the streets of Banjul, beating it brutally with sticks, shouting ‘Judas du rerengon’, meaning ‘Judas will not have supper this evening’, as punishment for the horrible act of selling Jesus, his master, for a mere thirty pieces of silver.
I used to enjoy this event. It was indeed fun, as the one pulling the Judas effigy will be weaving from side to side, so as to save it from being ‘finished off’. By the time the crowd was done with ‘Judas’, there will be nothing left of it. All this ended by midday, as then came time for ‘nan mburu’ distribution. Nan mburu is a delicious mixture of ground, steamed rice balls, baobab fruit juice and sugar. ‘Nan mburu’ directly translated into English is ‘drink bread’. We all know bread is not drunk but eaten or chewed. This food-drink is said to have originated from St. Louis, in northern Senegal, where it is called ‘ngalah’. It was brought to Banjul by the high-society mulatto immigrant women from there, known as ‘seniarahs’. ‘Ngalah’ is made of ground, steamed coos mixed with peanut butter and sugar, while ‘nan mburu’ is made of ground, steamed rice balls mixed with baobab fruit juice and sugar.
The distribution of ‘nan mburu’ by the Christian faithful to relatives, friends and neighbours, especially Muslims, is an occasion that I will always remember. As a boy, I looked forward eagerly to the bowls of ‘nan mburu’ that we will receive from our Christian relatives and friends. Even today, I look forward to and enjoy a good helping of ‘nan mburu’ at Easter time.
In some Catholic parishes, ‘Good Friday’ is commemorated by walking the ‘Stations of the Cross’ at midday. At three o’clock, the Christian community, comprising Catholics and Protestants, process solemnly through the streets of Banjul carrying the Cross as testimony of their belief in Christ’s crucifixion, death and resurrection. The day concludes with evening mass at which worshippers kiss the cross in reverence to their crucified Lord and Saviour.
Holy Saturday, the day before Easter Sunday, is commemorated by Gambian Catholics with the ‘vigil of light’, a procession of lighted candles symbolizing the rising of Jesus from the dead, bringing new life to the world. Parishioners assemble in their respective churchyards, where the ceremony begins with the lighting of a big fire, from which the Paschal Candle is lit and passed around to parishioners to light their candles. The procession of believers enters the darkened church to herald Jesus Christ’s triumph over sin and death. This Vigil usually begins by 10:30 p.m. with prayers for peace in the nation, its people and the entire world being offered and spills over into the wee-wee hours of Easter Sunday. A popular Wolof hymn that Catholics chant to usher in Easter is ‘Yesu Dekaleku Na’ which means “Christ Has Risen’.
The following traditions and rituals are observed from the lighten of the fire:
- The charcoal from the fire is collected by families and kept in houses for the protection of lightening.
- The candles use for the procession are kept and lighted in the event of sickness in the family especially for sick children.
- The ceremonial holy water is also kept and preserved for evil spirit. The holy water is normally poured on the sick people to gain consciousness and good health.
Easter Sunday, which marks the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, is the foundation of the Christian faith. This Holy day is marked by visits to elderly family members, relatives and friends and feasting sumptuously after attending mass in the morning which usually takes place at ten. It should be understood that Easter is not just a day, but a season of fifty days after Easter Sunday, of praising God with songs of ‘Alleluia’. Easter Sunday is a joyous day for Christians all over the world.
In the colonial days, the observance of Easter Monday in The Gambia, especially in Banjul and its environs had become more of a British tradition than a religious practice. For many years, until the latter days of the Jawara administration, Easter Monday as a public holiday. Banjulians used to celebrate the day with kite flying, and family and social group picnics in the Kombos, mainly on the Bakau and Cape Point beaches. Kite flying, locally known as ‘nawal’ (a Wolof word meaning ‘fly’), was a popular Easter Monday event which used to be held at a place called ‘tan bi’ (a Wolof word meaning ‘dried marsh land’). This area which lies between the Bund Road and Lasso Wharf is girded by dredged channels for the evacuation of rain water, fringed with mangroves, and is a nesting ground for birds migrating from Europe in the winter months.
Due to the many Christian holidays that the country observed, in spite of it being a predominantly Muslim country, the Jawara government asked the Christians to forgo one of them, to choose between the Feast of the Assumption, locally known as ‘Sang Marie’, celebrated on 15th August each year and Easter Monday. Since the majority of Christians are Catholics, and the Feast of the Assumption is more meaningful than Easter Monday, the latter had to be forgone. This meant Christians could no longer celebrate Easter Monday as before. Regrettably, therefore, the tradition of kite flying and picnicking on that day was abandoned. However, the day, many years later, regained public holiday status, enabling Christians to revive and relive the celebrations as it used to be.
In 2012, through the initiative and efforts of the Catholic Men’s Solidarity, an association of male parishioners of the Catholic Cathedral in Banjul, the kite flying tradition and practice was revived and has become eagerly looked forward to by a wide cross-section of the Gambian populace, especially the youth. Since then, every Easter Monday, Christians, mostly Catholics, and some Muslims, gather in their numbers at the beach on the outskirts of Banjul, just beyond the Christian cemetery, to socialize and fly kites from midday until late at night. In addition to kite flying, the event is punctuated by drumming and dancing, cultural displays and sporting activities.
It’s time to reflect on my background. I am a Muslim by birth with blood Christian relatives like 45 % of the Gambian population. I attended missionary schools both in The Gambia and Norway. I cherish my Chris/Mus upbringing and have fun memories of numerous Christian festivities that I have fond memories off which I wish to highlight and make reference to my former classmates to whom I have an obligation to explain our cultural differences in order to bring international understanding among each other.
I was thought “Our Father “or the Lord’s Prayer or “Father Vor “in Norwegian like many Muslims youngsters who attended Christian schools. I still sing and whistle my Christian hymns both in Norwegian and English once o a while. Lol. At Albion school which was the primary school I attended conducted Thursday services before classes and this made us learn a lot about the Christian religion and songs for that matter. There have been changes since then, as the educational system now provides the teaching of Islam in each school if not all.
I have fun memories of going to church during watchnight or Christmas Eve like most youngsters during our youth days which I briefly touched on in my last series of narrations of events.
I have fond memories of the two Christmas celebrations I spent in Stavanger at Solborg Folk High School with my best friend Mam Sait Njie and the family of Rector Karl Eielsen to whom we owe deep gratitude to for his role in seeing us through in both our educational career and our wellbeing in Norway. Rector Eielson introduced us to the cream of the Christian community including the Bishop of Stavanger all of whom adopted us as their own. My deepest gratitude goes to the Christian families who adopted me and made me feel at home throughout my stay in Norway.
I would like to single out the following: Late Eva &Jatmund Ringstad of Halden, Rector Karl Eielsen &family, Rector Tor & Randi Stallvick , Late Alf Cato Gussured, Late Sten Fossgaurd, Gitta & Halvor Thorboinson , My first host Terja Heggenest, IOGT,NGF,FORUD (the good temple group) among others.
I am compelled to explain to my Gambian friends the difference and the meaning of Easter and how it came about and celebrated for their understand. There is also a possibility that even some of my Norwegian friend do not know some of these facts presented?
In Norway, Easter or posker as it’s called marks the end of a cold winter and the beginning of spring after a long and dark winter.
The name Posker is derived from the Hebrew word Pasech/pasha meaning Passover. In Norway the feast does not Passover since the country has the world longest holiday. The feast is celebrated just like Christmas as it brings family members together. A number of Norwegians spend their Easter Holidays
by going skiing in the mountains. Quite a number of Norwegians own cottages commonly known as “ hytta“in various parts of the country which they share and spend time with family and friends during festivities.
My actual story on Easter was just to touch on the cultural and religious difference in the celebration of Easter or POSKER but also to focus on one of my most religious and emotional feeling that made me feel I was in heaven.
I have intimated that my “chris-mus “meaning Christian /Muslim background attended Christian schools and having Christian relatives made me acquainted with most of the ritual and ceremonies in the Christian faith.
I was living in a boarding school setup at both at Fana and RisoyFolkhigh School with the rules of waking up early in the morning to have breakfast by 7 A.M or 7. 30 AM was a routine. This special day of 13th December marks the celebration of Lucia Dagen (Saint Lucia Day) a special day that I was not aware of the traditional feast day from the calendar of Saints which comes from the early Christian customs of commemorating martyrs.
I will have to share a joke out of the many that I always share with friends on a daily basis before narrating my experience on Saint Lucia Day. All stories start with once upon a time. A man was to undergo an operation and was put on anesthesia before the operation and on waking up and open his eyes and saw all the medical personnel’s wearing white and the surgeon quickly ask him his name, he responded by saying “my name on earth was Peter but I don’t know my new name in heaven”. Lol.
Believing me I also thought I was in heaven when I entered the dining room for breakfast seeing all the female students dress in white looking like angels singing with the melancholic voices of the group echoing Santa Lucia. This song brings me back to the Bati Linger choir of The Gambia and Epi Tombi Group of South Africa. This memory will never fade in my thoughts. Picture below shows how my fellow students were dressed for the event.
St Lucia Day was first introduced to Norway when Christians spread over the country in the late 1000s. The day became a mark on the farmer’s prim Stav- a wooden calendar stick marking seasonal preparation and celebration days.
The elements from Catholic faith began to mix with the pagan traditions, and the word 'Lucia' became confused with 'Lucifer'. At the time the old Julian calendar was in use so the 13th of December was the darkest day of the year. This created the tradition of Lussi langnatt (Lucy long night).
After the Reformation in the 1500s (when the Protestant Church became the State Church of Norway) St Lucia day was almost forgotten. It wasn't until after WWII that Norway re-adopted St Lucia Day, largely because of all the immigrating Swedes. 'Lucia' has reclaimed its former Latin meaning of 'light' and now Saint Lucia Day is a parade of light during the darkest time of the year. The celebration is observed in schools and community organizations all over the country.
School activities on St Lucia Day include a casual procession of singing children. A child is chosen to lead the procession (traditionally a blonde-haired girl), who represents St Lucia. They are dressed in white with a red sash and a wreath of candles around their head - today they use electric lights. Traditionally the procession was made up of all girls dressed in white, however, today; boys also join in, dressed as nisser, or also in white. The procession travels through the school buildings, hospitals and city centres handing out lussekatter (Lucia buns) while singing the Saint Lucia song: (Note: Norway, Denmark and Sweden have their own versions of the Saint Lucia Song.) Sankta Lucia (Norwegian Lyrics) Svart senkernatten seg i stall ogstuer. Solen hargått sin vei, skyggene truer. Inn ivårtmørkehusstiger med tentelys, Sankta Lucia, Sankta Lucia! Natten er mørkog stum. Med ett det suseri alle tyste rom somvingerbruser. Se påvårterskelstår, hvitkledd med lysihår, Sankta Lucia, Sankta Lucia! Saint Lucia (English translation) Black night is falling in stables and homes. The Sun has gone away, the shadows are threatening. Into our dark house enters with lit candles, Saint Lucia, Saint Lucia! The night is dark and silent; suddenly a rush in all quiet rooms, like the waving
of wings. See, at our threshold stands, dressed in white with lights in her hair, Saint Lucia, Saint Lucia! Lussekatter - Lucia Buns Lucia buns are the traditional treats handed out during the children's procession. They are a sweet bread or 'boller'. Sometimes they are called saffron buns. Raisins. (Source, Article –My little Norway.)
My story ends with the rich lyrics of one of my favourite poet and song writers Lillebjorn Nilsen which I used as my opening jingle in my dis jockey days in Norway.
BARN AV REGNBUEN – (MY RAINBOW RACE) TEKS LillebjornNilsen, Music Pete Seeger.
En himmel full av stjerner.
Blåtthavsålangt du ser.
En jord der blomstergror.
Kan du ønskemer?
Sammenskal vi leve.
Hversøsteroghverbror.
Små barn av regnbuen
ogenfrodigjord.
Noentror det ikkenytter.
Andre kastertiden bort med prat.
Noentror at vi kanleve av
Plast ogsyntetisk mat.
Og noenstjelerfra de unge
somblirsendtut for ogslåss.
Noe stjelerfra de mange
somkommeretteross.
En himmel full av...
Men si det til alle barna!
Si det tilhver far og mor:
Ennåhar vi ensjanse
til å dele et håpogenjord.
En himmel full av...
Recollections of a Gambian Muslim on the celebration of Easter & other Christian religious festivities in The Gambia part 3. First published 16th April 2018.
My story ends with these factual lyrics of Lille Bjorn Nilsen. Look out for my next Letters from The Smiling Coast.
