Sunday 23 May 2010

So last night I went to a muslim dance thing.
I say went to, I mean got a bit sucked into.
They had closed off this street and put up party type decorations so I had kinda assumed it was a wedding. Id been casually invited when I walked past so i thought Id go have a look see.
I sat just down the road watching for about 10 mins before I got strongly invited in.
So, it consisted of many people, all in white gowns and those little hats sitting in four long lines. there was much singing and dancing, but in a kinda religuous "dance in the correct fashion" kinda way. oh and it was men only.
I got fairly quickly designated as honoured guest, they put flowers all over me, gave me a kinda scarf thing and one of their hats. there wwas quite a lot of kinda preaching and arabic singing. I was then informed by someone quietly that I was going to give a speech.
to about 1000 people or so.
So I was handed a very load mic and I told them who I was, where I was from and thanked them for their hospitality.
It seemed to go down well and one of their religous leaders stood up and thanked me, mostly for not being french I think.

anyway then there was more singing and dancing, with people handing out dates and various snacks.
I met a number of priesty imam type figures. I have no idea what the sunnis call their religous leaders.

good time had by all really. was very interesting stuff. and I am significantly more known now than I was before I suspect.

love to all
Oh and Im climbing the highest mountain on teh island today.

Sam

4 comments:

  1. Lovely updates big man, i check here all the time. Really interesting, i keep trying to bank information for work world creation.

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  2. Sunni Islam doesn't really have religious leaders (they reject the caliphs which is a major point of contention between Sunni and Shia Islam) but instead refer to people who are well-versed with the Qur'an/Hadith as Mullah's or Mawlana's - In a nutshell! Of course this being a teeny tiny wee island they might also have sort of village/tribal leaders.... any wise men who use hallucinogens knocking about?!
    I still can't work out which festival this would have been - did anyone give you a name? And why are they so glad you're not French?! (Parisian maybe, but plain old French?)

    Glad all is going well, we're still LOVING the blog here :)
    Love you lots x

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  3. there is some animalism about, im hoping to find out a bit more about that at some point.

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  4. sam! your a big hairy island god! that sounds amazing, i have such good images in my head of all this. im goin to read the rest now (havent read them for few days) then im goin to mong out in the sun a bit and then will get on with some paintin - alot less adventure than your day but still pretty good. all this talk of mountains and wild creatures (not to mention "tons of owls") makes me want a change of career! maisie xxxxxxxxxxx

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