Baptismal Baby Shower

I find myself a little frustrated with extra time on my hands, so I thought now would be a good time to update the blog.  I have had a pretty enjoyable couple of days, but I don’t feel like I have been doing as much as I was when I first arrived…. On Tuesday, after blogging and hanging out and eating reheated cous-cous, I put on my one Malian complet (shirt and skirt set) and headed to Aissa’s house to meet and go to a baptism.  I say baptism because Malians use the word "baptême" to describe the event, but really this encompasses a naming ceremony, blessing and celebration of the baby (which is usually, and in this case, Muslim, so a little different than what I think of when I say "baptism").  Aissa, Daline and I were dropped off at Aissa's cousin’s house by some friends who had spent the car ride discussing their plans to marry me and Daline and come to the states (“I’ll take the black one, you can have the white one.”  How could we resist?). 

The crowd of women assembled in the courtyard
The new mother's friends are in foreground with
matching head wraps

We were actually early!  We arrived to the baptism as they were still setting up chairs in the courtyard and getting ready.  Aissa’s cousin is the aunt of the new baby and she still had not showered and changed into her dress clothes.  They let me hold the baby for a second, but I was told to wait to take pictures because he wasn’t dressed yet (though he was wearing a cute Snoopy onesy!).  Aissa, Daline and I waited on chairs set on a shady patio and we remarked that the courtyard was a lot like being in a village, but in the middle of Bamako.  It was definitely more rustic than my family’s compound and I’m pretty sure we may have sipped some well water that had been sitting uncovered in a basin (well water can actually be less dangerous than tap water, but if it’s uncovered, it can become infested with a number of bad things, including mosquito larva).

Women slowly began to arrive and sit in the chairs that had been assembled in a half circle.  The baby came back out, dressed in fancier clothes, and then we all just waited for his mother to make her grand appearance.  During this time, Aissa explained to us that the men had gotten together that morning for their celebration.  A Muslim leader, the Imam, comes and blesses the baby and consults the Koran to determine what his or her name should be (apparently this is based on the day the baby is born, but if the parents want to name the baby for a family member, they can do that as well- the father gets to pick the names of the first 2 babies and the mother can pick the third child’s name).  Then, the men slaughter goats and prepare the meat to cook throughout the day so the women can eat it at night.  Then, I imagine, they sit and drink tea and talk for a while before dispersing.

The new mother nurses her baby as big brother looks on proudly

When the women get together, they bring the mother gifts for the baby.  Acceptable gifts include soap (the cheapest option), fabric (which costs around $12-15), or money (how much is your call).  These gifts were delivered after the mother of the newborn arrived.  She made quite an entrance with her closest friends and sisters, all dressed in the same fancy bazin dresses with their hair and makeup done to match!  When she arrived, she nursed the new baby for a moment and a griot began to tell about her family.  The baby then disappeared into the arms of an older woman in a corner where he stayed for the rest of the ceremony (not really a focus).  The griot is employed to tell the story of a family and sing people’s praises (put simply… it’s really a very rich cultural tradition which deserves better explanation than this), so the griot basically told about the older women in the new baby’s family and started to display the gifts that were given by each of the guests.

In this way, the baptism became a bit of a glorified baby shower in which the wealth and generosity of some of the guests was put on display and celebrated by others.  This was a bit off-putting for me until Aissa explained that there was a system involved.  Any woman who gave 10,000 cfa or more ($20+) or three meters of fabric was entitled to the same gift when she gave birth and had a baptism.  Thus, this gift giving was a sort of loan system or a social insurance policy.  I find that this sort of system exists informally in Mali in a lot of settings.  There is a sort of social support and social capital that I often feel one finds less and less in the US.  It’s that sort of reliance on neighbors and families that seems old fashioned in a lot of ways here.  It makes me think of an article I read in a political science class called "Bowling Alone" about the loss of social capital in the US and the end of community events like bowling leagues and social clubs.  Although I realize the system here is tied to money and probably more complicated and formal here than it appears to be at first glance, the system of social support is really appealing to me.  

The griot (in pink) praised gift givers into the late evening hours

So to finish out the story, we were fed some delicious yam and goat stew that smelled exactly like the beef stew my mom makes at home!  Daline and I each gave gifts of 1,000 cfa (about $2) and we took off after we finished eating.  We visited our friends Sonja and Gaelle in their new house (where I might get to rent a room) and that was a nice end to the evening.  Yesterday was another fun day- embassy business in the morning and yummy Indian dinner in the evening.  I got to meet a lot of new American friends both at the embassy and at dinner, and I look forward to spending more time with them.  I am hoping to strike a balance between time with Malian friends and expatriate/American friends as well.  A big key to all of this is getting an idea of how my research is going to take shape…. Hopefully that will begin to become more defined this afternoon when I meet the program advisor, Dantouma, and visit the village that will be my research site!