Holidays

 I am writing this on April 27, Independence Day here in Togo. I thought it was a good day to go over some of the holidays that have been observed and celebrated here over the past months. 

Probably because of its history as a French colony, Togo celebrates many of the same holidays as France. It makes for an interesting mix of celebrating history and observing traditional Catholic holy days. 

The first holiday that I experienced here was La Toussaint on November 1. I wrote a separate post about my activities on that day. Although devout Catholics may have gone to mass, the people I encountered seemed to make no change in their routine. Schools were closed, of course, and I assume government offices were as well.

From what I saw, Christmas was also fairly low-key here in Vogan. Hammer's family had a Christmas tree and opened gifts in the morning. The rest of the day and much of the night was spent working. Apparently fufu is a staple of Christmas dinner, because the machine ran constantly that day. People had to wait their turn, sometimes for 20 or 30 minutes. Those of the household who were not working on fufu spent the day preparing for the children's Christmas party at church the next day. Joycelyn, Dela, Solange, Patrick, and Viviane cooked and prepared treat bags for the kids. I assisted with the latter project. During the party, the children sang; we took their pictures; and gave them a meal and the treat bags.

In Lomé the holiday was more visible. I saw billboards advertising Christmas sales and Christmas items on shelves in the stores. 

New Year's Eve for the mission means a vigil service in the church. This year the government imposed a 9:00 p.m. curfew because of CoVid, so the service was cut short. We finished at 10:00 instead of going past midnight. 

Valentine's Day went unnoticed in Vogan, but the day after was a Tuesday, so I was in Lomé. Le Champion, a grocery store, had observed the holiday. I don't recall seeing a lot of merchandise, but there was candy and this sign on the door.

The March holiday? Not St. Patrick's Day--I saw absolutely no sign of that--but International Women's Day, March 8. I knew that it received more observance here in Africa than in the US. I was in Burkina Faso on that day in 2020. It fell on a Sunday, so the country observed it on Monday with closed offices, etc. Here it doesn't merit a day off. In fact, I believe I was here on March 8 in 2021, and I have no memory of anything happening. This year, however, it fell on a Tuesday. That meant a trip to Lomé. We got pulled over at one of the checkpoints on the way and the soldiers or policemen wished us a happy Woman's Day and let us go. I found out on Wednesday that the school had marked the holiday. There was an all-school assembly in which the directors pointed out the importance of schooling for girls as much as for boys. (Although school is compulsory here, in practice, girls sometimes do not go to school). The other manifestation of the holiday is in clothes. I saw three women wearing dresses made of fabric that had "8 mars, Journée Internationale de la Femme" woven into the design.

That brings us to today, Independence Day. My neighbors and I discussed the holiday this morning as I was heading to Hammer's for breakfast. They told me that people celebrate by eating and dancing and asked how we celebrated our similar holiday in the US. Dela told me that, in the past, the school children in Vogan have marched in the streets, but that is not happening this year. Along the main road, several of the business are sporting a small Togolese flag, which looks quite festive. Since I was not able to take a picture of that--I need both hands on the wheel when I drive the main road, I will add a picture of the Togolese and Christian flag at the mission school.

The French teacher reminded the children in 7th and 9th grades Monday that they were in the last week in April and that there was the possibility for holidays in May and early June. Again, from the French system,  holidays include Labor Day on the 1st; Ascension Day on the 26th; and Pentecost on June 6. Note the word "possibility." So far here, other than Christmas and Easter, holidays have been announced to me the day before. I found out that today was a holiday yesterday afternoon before I went home from school. La Toussaint was announced to me in a similar fashion. So it will be interesting to see what, if any, days off come my way next month!