Wangala

Carolyn and I at the Wangala. Early Sunday morning Patrick, Jerry, Ethel, and I went to Pirgacha for a special celebration or wangala. (Pirgacha is where Rebecca, Philip, and Hannah live and it is a Garo region. Pirgacha also has a Catholic mission with many priests including one American priest, Father Homeric. The Garos are a tribal minority group in Bangladesh and have a more East Asia appearance.) The Catholic mission hosted the Garos traditional, yearly celebration of the harvest. But, this year was even more special as Father Homeric celebrated his 50th year as a priest among the Garos in Bangladesh. The Garos were animalistic, but now are mostly Christian. There were predictions of five to ten thousand people attending the celebration. The day started with mass at 8:30 a.m., which lasted about two hours. After that there were speeches, dancing, and gifts were presented to Father Homeric. There was so much color and culture and symbolism. It would take books to describe everything I saw. The music was beautiful, and girls came around during the mass and painted a white mark on everyone’s faces. We had Garo food for lunch – pork is a popular dish and a bit rare as 90% of the country doesn’t eat it. I kept on running into Taize boys, Brother Eric, and some staff and children from Asha Neir. Many of the MCC staff also came for the day. After the main program was completed Shilpi and Ann (who work in the MCC Dhaka office) went with Carolyn and me to the mela (like a fair). The mela had a group of people similar to gypsies selling cheap toys and trinkets (they travel around selling things & charming snakes). All four of us bought glass bracelets for 10 taka that supposedly aren’t available in Dhaka. Then the four of us bought Garo clothing. The Garos aren’t as concerned about being covered as the Muslims. They wear a long skirt with a t-shirt and a scarf. Then Shilpi and Ann had to leave as they had to get to the main road before it got dark - it is dangerous to travel in this area at night. Carolyn and I went to Philip and Rebecca’s house and we all went to the mission to have dinner with the priests and several guests. It was quite an honor to have dinner with Father Homeric and a dozen other people, after so many thousands had come for the day. We walked back through the jungle in the dark and went to sleep with a few interruptions during the night. A fox was chasing another and made quite a noise. Hannah also woke up a few times crying. Babies are a lot of work – it is all Rebecca can do to take care of Hannah. I’m also quite surprised that Rebecca and Philip want to live in such a remote place with a baby. On Monday Philip took me back to Muktagacha by motorcycle – giving me tips on driving a motorcycle during the entire 45 minutes drive. It will be so much easier to have a motorcycle, but a bit of a challenge – mainly because they drive on the opposite side of the road. Back at the guesthouse I packed all my stuff, and moved to Ram Chandropur.

Today is a holiday, and the 3rd through the 7th are MCC vacation days. Just when I am ready to start work, I have a holiday! It is nice that I have time to move into my house and figure out what to tell my cook to make for dinner.