Saturday, April 21, 2007 Continued

Day 5-Continued

After a dinner of curried goat (the kill captured on video by Jon!), rice, goat sauce, pickly (a spicy cabbage & carrot), and fried plantain, we had a visit from four local young men who would speak to us about Voodoo. They are all drummers and they spoke about how Voodoo is a way of life and it is their culture. For some it is a religion where they experience spirits speaking through them, for others it is a celebration of the music. We were honoured to experience a night of Voodoo which began by the young men starting a small fire on the beach in front of Jo’s house. The drummers sat by side and the crowd of people, us included, surrounded the fire and drummers who would break into song after song. Sometimes there was singing sometimes not but there was always dancing by people of all ages, all dancing together and inviting les blancs to join in. It was especially exciting for them when we danced in our awkward ways near the fire. Kudos to Tiffany, Roxanne, Michelle, Mel, & Jon for strutting there stuff so well! We ended the night watching from the roof as the remaining coals from the fire were tossed into the pitch black of night where they shattered on the ground, leaving specks of red glowing embers to fade into the morning.