2007年VOA标准英语-Many Senegalese Journey to Home Villages for Mu

By Phuong Tran
Dakar
02 January 2007

Some Muslims without enough money to make the once-in-a-lifetime 
Passengers pack belongings¹ for trip home
pilgrimage to Mecca, in Saudi Arabia, travel to their home villages to celebrate the holiday of Eid al-Adha. Phuong Tran reports from VOA's West Africa Bureau on one man's 17-hour journey to join his family near the border between Senegal and Mauritania.

Doudou Ndiaye climbs onto the bus after negotiating cabin space for his luggage.

He borrowed the $24 for the roundtrip to his mother's home village of Ourossogui to celebrate the Muslim holiday Eid al-Adha, known as Tabaski in Senegal.

He says that the holiday is very important to him, and that on Tabaski, there is really no place to be other than with family. No matter how difficult it is financially, he says he knew he had to find a way home.

Though Ndiaye speaks some French, on the bus he speaks Pular with others. He and many others from his ethnic³ group have two lines etched into their temples, identifying them as Pular.

Passengers pile rolled up prayer mats into the bus's storage bin². Some bring bags of onions and other ingredients to prepare the traditional meal of sheep they will have with their families.

Seventeen hours, two drivers and more than 700 kilometers later, the bus crosses a desert dotted with mosques⁴, sparse⁵ vegetation and a sign announcing that Ourossogui is two kilometers away.

 
Ndiaye at mother's home
Upon arriving, Ndiaye's 60-year old mother greets him where she lives with her two younger brothers and their families, and Ndiaye's younger sister.

Ndiaye  sits in front of his mother's house as neighbors stop by to say hello.

His childhood friend and now primary schoolteacher, Babacar Sow, crosses the sandy road that divides their homes.

"I feel very, very, very happy when I see him. Because it is a long time that I have not seen him. I have only seen him once a year, during Tabaski day only," said Ndiaye.  "He has here his mother. He comes on Tabaski to do the holiday with his family. We grow up together."

Ndiaye does not move much from his stool on the porch until the morning of Tabaski on Sunday.

At 7 a.m. on Sunday, Ndiaye is still sleeping as his aunts prepare for the long day of events.

They clear debris⁶ from the sandy ground, and chop bags of onions to marinate the traditional meal of sheep they will have in a few hours.

On Tabaski Sunday, the men in the village leave the women at home cooking and put 
Ndiaye at morning prayers in village square
on their ornate long tunics⁷ and flowing pants, known as boubous, to attend morning prayers.

The town's religious leader, Imam Abdou Ly, sits in front of a town plaza⁸ crowded with hundreds of men who are here to attend the morning prayers, which mark the official beginning of Tabaski.

They sit on their prayer mats as the official opening prayers of Tabaski are sung. The imam's Arabic sermon recounts the day when one of Islam's prophets, Ibrahim, was willing to sacrifice his son for God, but then was given a sheep to sacrifice instead.

After the morning prayers, this biblical sheep sacrifice will be played out in millions of homes of Senegalese Muslims, or at least those who have the money to buy a sheep.

When they return to his mother's house, Ndiaye's uncle effortlessly kills the sheep that cost him $60.

Ndiaye uses aluminum⁹ siding as a cutting board to prepare the meat for a meal that they will then share with neighbors.

 
Family member prepares Tabaski meal
His sister grinds pepper corns, cubes of seasoning¹⁰, salt, and then hand mixes the paste in with onions cut from the morning.

She squeezes a bag of mustard over the onion mix, setting it aside to fry with the sheep in the cast iron pot now bubbling over the flames.

In the evening, children celebrate the end of 2006 with firecrackers. Though Tabaski falls on the 31st this year, the Muslim new year will not be celebrated¹¹ for another month.

The date of Tabaski is based on the Islamic lunar calendar and falls 10 days after Hajj, the annual pilgrimage Muslims make to Mecca in Saudi Arabia, if they have the money.

Guided only by flashlights and the near-full moon, Ndiaye and his nephew visit his great aunt.

After exchanging a long wish of good health, Ndiaye says the traditional Tabaski prayer that God will protect his great-aunt until next Tabaski, and for many holidays afterwards.

In recent years, Ndiaye has lost his father, his older brother, cousin and a good friend. He says that it was God's will. He hopes for a safe Tabaski season before next year's trip home to Ourossogui.

1 belongings   

n.私人物品，私人财物

参考例句：

• I put a few personal belongings in a bag.我把几件私人物品装进包中。
• Your personal belongings are not dutiable.个人物品不用纳税。

2 bin   

n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件

参考例句：

• He emptied several bags of rice into a bin.他把几袋米倒进大箱里。
• He threw the empty bottles in the bin.他把空瓶子扔进垃圾箱。

3 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

4 mosques   

清真寺； 伊斯兰教寺院，清真寺； 清真寺，伊斯兰教寺院( mosque的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Why make us believe that this tunnel runs underneath the mosques? 为什么要让我们相信这条隧洞是在清真寺下？
• The city's three biggest mosques, long fallen into disrepair, have been renovated. 城里最大的三座清真寺，过去年久失修，现在已经修复。

5 sparse   

adj.稀疏的，稀稀落落的，薄的

参考例句：

• The teacher's house is in the suburb where the houses are sparse.老师的家在郊区，那里稀稀拉拉有几处房子。
• The sparse vegetation will only feed a small population of animals.稀疏的植物只够喂养少量的动物。

6 debris   

n.瓦砾堆，废墟，碎片

参考例句：

• After the bombing there was a lot of debris everywhere.轰炸之后到处瓦砾成堆。
• Bacteria sticks to food debris in the teeth,causing decay.细菌附着在牙缝中的食物残渣上，导致蛀牙。

7 tunics   

n.（动植物的）膜皮( tunic的名词复数 )；束腰宽松外衣；一套制服的短上衣；（天主教主教等穿的）短祭袍

参考例句：

• After work colourful clothes replace the blue tunics. 下班后，蓝制服都换成了色彩鲜艳的衣服。 来自辞典例句
• The ancient Greeks fastened their tunics with Buttons and loops. 古希腊人在肩部用钮扣与环圈将束腰外衣扣紧。 来自互联网

8 plaza   

n.广场，市场

参考例句：

• They designated the new shopping centre York Plaza.他们给这个新购物中心定名为约克购物中心。
• The plaza is teeming with undercover policemen.这个广场上布满了便衣警察。

9 aluminum   

n.(aluminium)铝

参考例句：

• The aluminum sheets cannot be too much thicker than 0.04 inches.铝板厚度不能超过0.04英寸。
• During the launch phase,it would ride in a protective aluminum shell.在发射阶段，它盛在一只保护的铝壳里。

10 seasoning   

n.调味；调味料；增添趣味之物

参考例句：

• Salt is the most common seasoning.盐是最常用的调味品。
• This sauce uses mushroom as its seasoning.这酱油用蘑菇作调料。

11 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。