As I mentioned in my first letter, religion is an essential part of a Senegalese person's identity and his or her everyday life. After three months of studying and traveling all over Senegal, I can say that atheism does not exist here.
One of my friends from my program is not quite an atheist, but she certainly does not subscribe to a particular religion and is quite unsure about God. Her family cannot understand how she does not have a religion. They constantly ask her philosophical questions such as how she could be here without God, what will happen to her on judgment day when she dies, or where will she get married. Her host mother even said it doesn't matter which religion, just pick one. I think the importance of religion in Senegal lies in the traditions it creates and communities it builds. I will talk about two traditions, Touba and circumcision.
While orthodox Islam holds that every follower is directly in touch with Allah, in Senegal relationships with God are mostly channeled through various religious leaders. Sheikh Amadou Bamba, the founder of the Mouride Brotherhood, is an iconic figure in Senegal. His name and portrait are imprinted on many buildings, stickers, taxi windshields, necklaces, and t-shirts. The influence and following of Bamba and the Mouride Brotherhood is best exemplified through the Grand Magal to Touba. This huge event every February celebrates the leader's return from exile in 1907 after having been banished for 20 years by the French. Over two million followers go to Touba, where Bamba lived, worked, and died. One of the five pillars of Islam is to go on a pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca. Touba is the closest thing to a holy city in Senegal. Since I live with a Catholic family, I did not get the chance to go to the weekend-long pilgrimage. However, based on stories on the news and from some of my friends that were able to go, it was, as its name suggests, a great pilgrimage. The city of Touba is actually only about two and a half hours from Dakar, but some said it took them about 11 hours to get there, and when they got there men were in long lines just to enter the gigantic mosque. Hotels are forbidden in the holy city, but many of the locals apparently opened up their homes and provided food to pilgrims. People literally came from all over Senegal and Africa for this event, which further highlights the wide reach of this religious tradition.
In addition, as part of my program I spent a week by myself in a rural fishing and farming village. Coincidentally, my village was entirely Muslim, and I was there for a circumcision ceremony that happens every 10 years. Although this was quite a scary experience, I gained a deeper insight into the social aspect of religion and the influence of animism. This was a four day ceremony in which the men of the village took all the boys ages 2 to 12 to the nearby forest. I wasn't able to go to the forest, but I did see many men wearing various gris-gris (protective charms) and carrying machetes. A boy has to be circumcised and go through this rite of passage in order to remain in the village. Although I had never heard of a ceremony like this in Dakar, circumcision is required by Islam and is commonly a mark of the beginning of adulthood. After one of the boys was circumcised he was brought by the men to the communal garden where the women and I were, accompanied by men drumming, chanting, singing, and dancing (hence the villagers called this a fête or party.) From what I could understand, this portion of the ceremony was to test men's strength. The men would wrestle, which included being stabbed by knives. However, apparently the knives did not penetrate the skin because each man had a protective belt (gris-gris) made by marabouts particularly to protect from being stabbed.
As ridiculous as this sounds, everyone in the village had absolute faith in this. In fact, I learned that all Senegalese wrestlers wear various types of gris-gris to protect them when they fight (Senegalese wrestling known as la lutte is very popular). All the boys who were circumcised had to stay in the forest for each of the four nights with minimal sleep to test their ability to bear pain like men. Men, particularly the village elders, would go to the forest periodically to conduct social education on adult responsibilities and behavior as a Muslim in the village.
As I said in my last letter, there is a blend between mysticism and religion in Senegal. That being said, you are either Muslim or Catholic. Within those two religious groups there are many differentiations. However, even with the variations throughout Senegal, my experiences have shown me that religion is at the center of Senegal's history, traditions, and communities.
While orthodox Islam holds that every follower is directly in touch with Allah, in Senegal relationships with God are mostly channeled through various religious leaders. Sheikh Amadou Bamba, the founder of the Mouride Brotherhood, is an iconic figure in Senegal. His name and portrait are imprinted on many buildings, stickers, taxi windshields, necklaces, and t-shirts. The influence and following of Bamba and the Mouride Brotherhood is best exemplified through the Grand Magal to Touba. This huge event every February celebrates the leader's return from exile in 1907 after having been banished for 20 years by the French. Over two million followers go to Touba, where Bamba lived, worked, and died. One of the five pillars of Islam is to go on a pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca. Touba is the closest thing to a holy city in Senegal. Since I live with a Catholic family, I did not get the chance to go to the weekend-long pilgrimage. However, based on stories on the news and from some of my friends that were able to go, it was, as its name suggests, a great pilgrimage. The city of Touba is actually only about two and a half hours from Dakar, but some said it took them about 11 hours to get there, and when they got there men were in long lines just to enter the gigantic mosque. Hotels are forbidden in the holy city, but many of the locals apparently opened up their homes and provided food to pilgrims. People literally came from all over Senegal and Africa for this event, which further highlights the wide reach of this religious tradition.
In addition, as part of my program I spent a week by myself in a rural fishing and farming village. Coincidentally, my village was entirely Muslim, and I was there for a circumcision ceremony that happens every 10 years. Although this was quite a scary experience, I gained a deeper insight into the social aspect of religion and the influence of animism. This was a four day ceremony in which the men of the village took all the boys ages 2 to 12 to the nearby forest. I wasn't able to go to the forest, but I did see many men wearing various gris-gris (protective charms) and carrying machetes. A boy has to be circumcised and go through this rite of passage in order to remain in the village. Although I had never heard of a ceremony like this in Dakar, circumcision is required by Islam and is commonly a mark of the beginning of adulthood. After one of the boys was circumcised he was brought by the men to the communal garden where the women and I were, accompanied by men drumming, chanting, singing, and dancing (hence the villagers called this a fête or party.) From what I could understand, this portion of the ceremony was to test men's strength. The men would wrestle, which included being stabbed by knives. However, apparently the knives did not penetrate the skin because each man had a protective belt (gris-gris) made by marabouts particularly to protect from being stabbed.
As ridiculous as this sounds, everyone in the village had absolute faith in this. In fact, I learned that all Senegalese wrestlers wear various types of gris-gris to protect them when they fight (Senegalese wrestling known as la lutte is very popular). All the boys who were circumcised had to stay in the forest for each of the four nights with minimal sleep to test their ability to bear pain like men. Men, particularly the village elders, would go to the forest periodically to conduct social education on adult responsibilities and behavior as a Muslim in the village.
As I said in my last letter, there is a blend between mysticism and religion in Senegal. That being said, you are either Muslim or Catholic. Within those two religious groups there are many differentiations. However, even with the variations throughout Senegal, my experiences have shown me that religion is at the center of Senegal's history, traditions, and communities.
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