Each year the Parot church hosts a meal for the whole community sometime during the Christmas/New Year's season. This year it took place on New Year's Day. Ladies from the church started cooking in the early afternoon, and people arrived mid-late afternoon. There was a short church service at 4:30, and the meal was served around 6:00.
My teammates and I went over around 4:00. The video below shows a little walk around the church grounds while people were waiting for the meal to be ready.
Here are a bunch of photos and one more video showing various aspects of the event.
In the forefront of the picture above is the cooking area, and the church building is in the background. It's made out of woven grass mats attached to a wooden and bamboo frame.
The meal consisted of "kuin," a very stiff porridge made of sorghum flour, served with three different kinds of "kadang" (sauces).
People break off a piece of kuin and then dip it in kadang and eat it.
Meanwhile, elsewhere on the church grounds, a group of girls were making tea to serve to the people waiting.
Dinka women often keep busy with their hands while they're waiting and chatting. Here, some are shelling peanuts, while the woman in the pink dress is braiding rope from long grasses.
Some of the kids were enjoying the long, dangling branches of a big tree on the property. They had fun swinging from them.
Next are a few pictures of the church service of praise and prayer, which was focused on thanking God for bringing us through the past year and praying for the new year. Last year was a very difficult year for the country and it was so bleak at the beginning of the year, but by the end the situation had improved quite a bit. Pastor John Alou, shown in the picture below, led the service, but there were a few other pastors and church leaders who had been invited to participate as well.
In Dinka culture, particularly in group gatherings like this, men and women eat separately.
The men ate inside the church. Their meal, shown above and on the right, was a little more fancy in honour of the invited guests. Instead of kuin to dip into the sauces, there were pieces of a very thin crepe-like bread called "kisera" made by the church women, as well as some round flatbreads purchased in the market.
Some latecomers arrived after everyone else had eaten. Fortunately there was still some food left, and the women serving made up another platter.
After the meal, some of the kids had fun playing with the church drums. I'll close this post with the little cutie below who was enjoying her brother's drum playing.
My teammates and I went over around 4:00. The video below shows a little walk around the church grounds while people were waiting for the meal to be ready.
Here are a bunch of photos and one more video showing various aspects of the event.
In the forefront of the picture above is the cooking area, and the church building is in the background. It's made out of woven grass mats attached to a wooden and bamboo frame.
The meal consisted of "kuin," a very stiff porridge made of sorghum flour, served with three different kinds of "kadang" (sauces).
People break off a piece of kuin and then dip it in kadang and eat it.
The sauce that the woman above is making has macaroni and chunks of meat in it. The woman on the right is making kuin. It takes quite a bit of strength to stir as it gets thicker and thicker, which is one reason why the Dinka women have strong arm muscles! Here's a little video that shows what I mean:
Meanwhile, elsewhere on the church grounds, a group of girls were making tea to serve to the people waiting.
Dinka women often keep busy with their hands while they're waiting and chatting. Here, some are shelling peanuts, while the woman in the pink dress is braiding rope from long grasses.
Some of the kids were enjoying the long, dangling branches of a big tree on the property. They had fun swinging from them.
Next are a few pictures of the church service of praise and prayer, which was focused on thanking God for bringing us through the past year and praying for the new year. Last year was a very difficult year for the country and it was so bleak at the beginning of the year, but by the end the situation had improved quite a bit. Pastor John Alou, shown in the picture below, led the service, but there were a few other pastors and church leaders who had been invited to participate as well.
Above: Church leader and preacher Luka Wol reading Scripture; Below: Pastor Karlo, who gave the message during the service.
Once the food was cooked, the ladies began serving it on huge platters.
In Dinka culture, particularly in group gatherings like this, men and women eat separately.
The men ate inside the church. Their meal, shown above and on the right, was a little more fancy in honour of the invited guests. Instead of kuin to dip into the sauces, there were pieces of a very thin crepe-like bread called "kisera" made by the church women, as well as some round flatbreads purchased in the market.
Some latecomers arrived after everyone else had eaten. Fortunately there was still some food left, and the women serving made up another platter.
After the meal, some of the kids had fun playing with the church drums. I'll close this post with the little cutie below who was enjoying her brother's drum playing.
I enjoy your blog entries so much. This one gives us such a good sense of the atmosphere at this celebratory event. Thanks for sharing. It seems a lot warmer than the last post. Was this before the cold spell?
ReplyDeleteThanks, Tricia! Yes, this was a few days before the cold spell. By the way, the last two or three days, the weather has warmed up some. I'm grateful, particularly to not be chilly during the night!
Delete