New Year's day

As you can well imagine, there are always language problems. And kids who always ask for money, or biscuits,or a pen,or whatever. I always say, "I thought you came to give ME money. How much will you give me, etc." I think it's pretty funny, they don't always. So New Years Day two guys, young adults maybe 20-25? stopped me on the road with a basket of food. I didn't know what they wanted, exactly, but I did the usual, Oh, food for me? And they explained again they wanted me to put food in the basket. Something about Hagar, death, and whatever. But for the new year they take food to the village. Did I mention these guys were covered in white powder? Hair, faces not so much, shoulders and bare chests, etc. I got that it was some NY thing for the village, so we went back to my place and I put some things in the basket. (Trailmix, yes, Pkg Tuna, no.)After they left, a smallboy nearby explained that Hagar had tried to kill them, and they had escaped. More mystery, but I remember there is a Hagar in the bible so I thought it was some bible story. WrongoBongo. In my very village a woman named Hagar wanted to get rid of her boyfriend, so she prepared a "special holiday meal" for him and his friend. For some reason they did not eat it. One person says the friend was suspicious, another person says the friend just wasn't hungry and it would have been rude of the boyfriend to eat if his friend did not. But you don't waste food in Africa, so they gave the food to the dog. Who died. Well, Hagar couldn't think of another way to get rid of her boyfriend, so she could go off with her new boyfriend, so she tried to poison him. (Isn't there a movie she could have watched, or a song about ways to leave your lover?) And the white powder is to show that they were with Death, but they escaped. And there is a Krobo tradition that you collect food for everyone in the village on the first day of the new year to guarantee that there will be food for everyone in the coming year. They just took it a step further, because they HAD escaped death, and wanted us all to rejoice for them, and with them. I was sorry I didn't get the whole picture right away, but they did look pretty bizarre covered in gray ash and asking for food. A villager told me that the district police did go to arrest Hagar, but she has gone away and they don't know where. Probly with the new BF, dontya think? Anyhow, that's it for NY. And I didn't get to eat any black-eyed peas, but I didn't eat lunch with these guys, either. And doesn't this just beat all?.

What I did do New Year's eve is stay up past midnight (probably the first in a long time) with a friend who spent the night. We drank a superb bottle of Australian wine, and watched the most incredible full moon I've seen in years. Some time after we went to bed, so it must have almost been morning, villagers burned tires in the middle of the road through town...some New Age arrangement with them and the tire companies. But it was all very grand, and I am sure we had a second full moon that month simply because we were to appreciate it. More sooner than later, I promise. See ya. Cheers, dw