When you live overseas, especially overseas as in Africa, celebrating major holidays can be a little unusual. That is, we do all the same things, but they might look a little different.
I was thinking about this as we went to buy the meat for Christmas dinner. It was Christmas Eve, a hot sunny afternoon. We stopped by Fawaz to see if they had petit pois surgelés, but they didn’t. Nobody this year had frozen peas, or broccoli, or any of the veggies I wanted that can sometimes be found here at Christmas-time. That’s ok—we had glazed carrots and fresh green beans instead, and it was good.
Afterwards Donn swings over to the meat market. We turn into a narrow, winding alley, choked with trash, live goats and sheep wandering round, lined with wooden tables piled high with slabs of meat. Flies buzz determinedly. From hooks above the tables hang sheep legs with the tail attached. (Note: this is nothing. Someday I’ll tell you about the camel market, where you can buy legs with the hoof attached) The dusty air is filled with the stench of blood.
Donn steps out and is instantly swarmed by young men brandishing hunks of sheep. They push it into his face, all talking at once about how theirs is the best, the freshest, the meatiest, the tenderest. I sit in the car, windows rolled up against the smell and the flies, and wish I had a camera with me.
He buys lots of meat. We have invited two Mauritanian men to eat dinner with us, and Mauritanians love meat and eat lots of it. This will be a new experience for them, as I will roast it with a crusty herb topping and serve it on china with gravy and mint sauce and roast potatoes, instead of boiling it without salt and serving it on a large platter. I am also passing on the intestines and organs too; even after 5 years in the desert, I just can’t stomach them, and we are inviting them to experience a Western-style Christmas.
We are still Christmas shopping. We stop by one last store, trying to find something to give Elliot. They have a French version of Pictionary for $80. We can’t do it—we decide to let him order something online. He might get it in April. But he’s got plenty of other things to open on Christmas morning. This year we got TWO parcels of gifts from friends!!
Christmas morning we spend as a family. We have baked French toast and bacon and Starbucks coffee that came in one of the parcels. We open presents, read the story. Another American family joins us for dinner, plus the 2 Mauritanian men. One brings another American friend whom we don’t know. The poor man feels very awkward, crashing a Christmas dinner, and follows me into the kitchen to apologize. But we don’t mind–after all, it is very Mauritanian to bring along extra people unannounced. We just get out another plate and there’s plenty of food.
Afterwards I make coffee and one of the men makes Mauritanian tea, very strong and minty, 3 rounds drunk in little glasses. We have pumpkin pie and fudge and mince pies and chocolate covered ginger, which I made myself this year. Some guests linger; I make more coffee, we talk with friends while carols play in the background. Some things are the same around the world.
Edited to Add: Donn wanted to make sure we were getting sheep meat instead of goat. Everytime he said, “Kebsh?” the vendors would thrust the sheep tail into his face! That’s the point of leaving the tail–to show what kind of meat it is.
I also forgot to mention that we opened presents to the thumps and bumps of construction work which is going on next door, where our neighbours are adding a couple of rooms to their house. No one around us was celebrating, but that was ok–we were.
12 comments
December 26, 2006 at 3:41 pm
Jodi
Merry Christmas! Thanks for broadening my horizons this year.
December 26, 2006 at 4:54 pm
Wacky Mommy
Oh, you guys. That sounds like fun!
December 26, 2006 at 6:05 pm
suzmom
Merry Christmas Friend!..love and MISS you!
December 26, 2006 at 7:56 pm
Owlhaven
This is just about my favorite knd of post. I love reading about different places!
Merry Christmas!
Mary, mom to many
December 27, 2006 at 1:37 am
LIB
Sounds like a great Christmas!
How did you write “I am also passing on the intestines and organs too; even after 5 years in the desert, I just can’t stomach them” w/o saying, “No pun intended”? Maybe you DID intend the pun.;)
December 27, 2006 at 3:36 am
Kris
This was a great post!
Merry Christmas and lots of warm thoughts to you all!
p.s. I must admit, I wondered the same thing as LIB. 🙂
December 27, 2006 at 11:13 am
planetnomad
Oh I meant that pun all right. 😉
December 27, 2006 at 4:41 pm
Rebecca
What a great post! And I’m so glad I figured out who EDJ was! 🙂
Mauritanians and my in-laws have apparently the same eating habits – Boxing Day dinner was ALL meat at their house. Nary a vegetable or grain in sight.
December 27, 2006 at 6:31 pm
Michelle in MX
Really enjoyed your sharing your Christmas. Love the attached tail. And what do you think? Do you think your guest enjoyed the meat prepaired like it was? I am no fan of boild meat, but they do a lot of it here . . . and then what we are used to we aquire a preference for, no? I would imagine that even though you prepaired the meat the way I would LOVE it, that they would have given you polite smiles.
December 29, 2006 at 9:58 am
meredith
I might finally become a vegetarian if I live in Mauratania!
December 29, 2006 at 10:00 pm
Antique Mommy
Fascinating! Is it okay to eat meat that’s exposed to air and flies and who-knows-what-else and all that? Does ones gut just adjust to that kind of thing after awhile? Nonetheless, it sounds like you had a lovely Christmas and I thank you for sharing it!
December 30, 2006 at 9:14 am
planetnomad
At first I thought it was terribly unsafe to eat that meat, but it was pointed out to me that the meat is fresh–killed that morning–and is also slaughtered in a way that avoids a lot of the kind of contamination you get with big slaughtering houses like the ones in America. We wash it thoroughly and cook it well and it’s not a problem.