One of my host moms, Rokia, finally had her baby! I've been waiting for this moment, since forever! I've made jokes about it and they joked with me whenever Rokia went to Bamako to see the doctor. We've had some good times and now the baby girl is here!
She's so cute and small, but there's no name to call her yet, because in Muslim tradition, the family waits 7 days until they name the child. How do people receive new borns? Well, when people came to visit, they gave many blessings to the family and then proceeded to call the baby ugly and all sorts of other things that I'm sure were bad. I found out later, that it's tradition to curse the newborn to keep bad spirits away.
The baby also wears a string bracelet, and beads around its neck and waist. These are also worn to keep bad spirits away. So, I joined in the fun and called the baby really ugly, while whispering, in English, in the babes ear how cute she really is.
awww that is soo cute how you whispered in her little ear to reassure her that she really is a cutie :-)
ReplyDeletei think that's horrible! u r counteracting their good luck tactics. it will b all ur fault if she turns out ugly...
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