Senegal Tea Making “Ceremony”
January 18th, 2008 by Nate.Saturday 12th, 2007 9:25 AM
In Fulakunda village life, generally society, it is very easy to see the pecking order or the hierarchy. The best example of it is by drinking tea. I have encountered some that call it the Tea Ceremony. I don’t consider it a formal ceremony such as a birth, a wedding or a prayer. It is informal in the sense that no one is really doing anything special- everyone would already be sitting around chitchatting- except one person is making tea. The Tea is made in three rounds with chinese gunpower green tea and an incredible amount of sugar. Mixed and served in little glasses alittle bigger than shot glasses. Each round is progressively weaker. The mosting interesting part to me- considering social standing- is who gets the tea in which order and how much. Typically the person with the most respect/difference gets the first cup which is nearly full. The tea is then given out progressively down the pecking order, each person getting less until the round is finished. In my experience as a guest in the community, it has been very informative. I am a white male american in my young/middle twenties with a university education. Here I am both a volunteer development worker and a temporary member of the community if not on a sojourner. The tea ceremony allows me to understand what people think of me. Some compounds will serve me in the beginning of a round- some even before the elders of the compound. Other compounds I will be offered towards the end of the round- just before the children. Gives me an idea of the social dynamics and where I fit in.
January 18th, 2008 at 4:03 pm
Does it matter if your a traveler and are there to tell a story? Evangelist traveling and telling stories? The sugar is important and not the strength of the tea or is the sugar weaker with the tea?
Wouldn’t it be more respectful to let you go before the children and leave later than the others after the third round or do you normally want to leave right after the third round? If you leave before the third round, can you come back and is every one going to know you left early and were mad? If it’s three rounds, three times a day; then is it rude to leave before the third round?