Koriteh in Mariama Kunda

Koriteh marks the end of Ramadan. On Koriteh the people celebrate by dressing up in their nicest clothes and visiting their neighbors.  Children also will come to compound and ask for sallibo.  This is a little like trick or treating because money or treats are the sallibo.  The children are far more polite and reticent about demanding their sallibo and will depart without comment if none is available.

We started the day by preparing a dinner.   I actually helped in the preparation this time.   We made chicken, onions, potatoes and sauce, plus rice.  Rice is served very frequently.  My mother would sit with a large bowl of rice and pick out the bad inclusions.  How many times have you read that you should do this and actually done it.  Since rice comes in 50 lb bags here, picking through the rice is a necessity.  Below are pictures of the meal in progress:

  

Another part of the day was getting ready for Koriteh.  My oldest sister had her hair braided in a spiral that started at the bottom of her head and ended at the top.  Then my mother took out a needle and thread and started sewing strips of fake hair into the braids.  Fake hair was very much in evidence for Koriteh.  Fatou had dreams of smooth black hair but her mother did not get it quite right.    Super glue even came into play and Fatou was not happy.  Meanwhile my mother braided my hair for Koriteh.  We had talked about it previously and I told her my hair would not stay braided because it was too soft.  She said to give her money and she would buy xxx in Serrekunda.  I thought that xxx was extensions since they use so much fake hair.  You can see by the attached picture that it was not extensions, it was rubber bands.  While she was braiding my hair the girls were saying "rafettnah" which means pretty, handsome, beautiful etc.  The other female pcvs had braiding done that was more like many French braids.  I was rather flabbiergasted when I saw what I looked like.  Of course I smiled and said that I was indeed "refettnah".  I kept them in for 3 days and then said that I had to wash my hair.  Some of the braids had come undone by that time so I definitely was particularly rafettnah by the time that I took them out.  The pictures below show me in all my loveliness and Fatou looking most unhappy with her hair.  She refused to smile for the camera.  She did go the next day and get her hair fixed by a professional and it looked much better so she was all set for her Koriteh visiting.

Once the cooking was done and the hair braided we were ready for visitors to come to the compound.  We ate together as a family but there was more food for those who stopped by.  One of the most interesting was a woman who came in and asked where her dinner was.  We had finished eating and put things away.  My mother told her she would fix her a plate so the woman said she would go to the local market and come back.  When she returned she sat down and m;y mother gave her a plate of food which she ate and then left.  In this country if someone is hungry and wants food, you feed them --end of story.  The pictures below are of a group of my mother's friends.  They definitely made themselves at home.  They made attaya ( a blog to come) and let (warm, sweetened milk with a little mint candy at the bottom).  Meanwhile my mother made a food bowl for all of them and the whole group, including my mother had a great time.  By the way, the standard way of eating from the food bowl is squished the food together with your right hand and eating the squished up stuff.

Last Kortieh pictures are my sisters ready for their evening Koriteh rounds.  The day dragged on and

they still had not put on their fancy clothiers but then came the magic hour and they translated into printesses..  The results are below.

Fatou

Mama

Roxy