Celebrating the Ascension Senegalese Style

I have a close relationship with a catholic family here and was invited to go to Pompenguine,  a beautiful beach side area, to celebrate the Ascension. I was initially scared and unsure if I wanted to go. I was a little afraid to be with a family other than my own without any other volunteers.I knew it would be a day and a half of wolof only and possibly more church than I wanted to attend. Well I decided to bite the bullet. We left early on Sunday morning and I knew I had made the right decision when I saw a case of beer under the seat :) When we got there, hundreds of people were walking the down the street and people were putting up tents everywhere they could find a spot. People were selling all kinds of religious artifacts from pictures, to rosaries, you name it. It was also like a huge market. People selling all the normal market clothes, shoes, junk, and sooo much food! There were even a couple makeshift bars made of tents. This reminded me of my home town church picnic.

They had a midnight mass and another mass at 8am. I chose a dress and Eduard told me first of all I had to cover my shoulders and secondly I had to buy prettier shoes. So I bought some senegalese dress shoes that literally tore up my feet. We stayed up late talking and having a good time.Monday morning came and I was asked if I would like to throw in some money on a goat. I also snuck off to the market for some whiskey so when lunch came around we were all in high spirits. Goat tastes so much better than sheep. The whole day music was coming from the church. It was very interesting to see that a lot of people came for the party but didn't go to mass, also like my hometown church picnic lol! Senegal  has it's "cafeteria catholics" just like the rest of the world.

I thought it was so cool to pop up a tent, not pay for anything, and go to friends of friends houses to bucket bath in the morning. I also noted that all the tourists were in beach houses and hotels while the majority of the Senegalese were in the tents. Our camp was in between a cemetery and a trash pile. Some of the people sharing our camp didn't seem to have come for anything but the camp. I must say they seemed to have the most fun too! Overall it was an amazing experience, and I would do it again the same way. I don't think the experience would have been worth it in a hotel or house. The camping was way to cool and also reminded me of a piece of home since I know my family just went on a big memorial day campout.