Big Party Next Door

Last week our next door neighbor, the wife of our night guard, had a baby girl.

We love living next to this family:  the children and the cousins and the aunts and the grandma and others whom we haven't figured out just exactly how they belong, all live and work together in a yard filled with various sleeping rooms and a large outdoor kitchen as well as home to a couple of cows and a myriad of goats and chickens.  The number of contrasts between our lives/yard/house to theirs are beyond description. 

Back to the new baby.  Eight days after the birth of a baby into a Muslim family is the naming ceremony.  I visited the mom and baby the day before and she whispered to me the name that the father had chosen for the new baby girl, but it was not made public until the official ceremony, officiated by the Imam.  

 As we opened our gate onto our driveway at 7:30 am, our front yard was FULL of men sitting in the rented white and blue plastic chairs.  Cars and motorcycles lined the road.  Everyone had come to celebrate the birth of the new baby.

  I quickly made my way through the "man" maze and went into the neighbor's yard where mats were spread on the ground outside as well as inside to accommodate all the women and children who had come to celebrate with the family.  (No chairs here.)

The grandmas were all together in Grandma's sleeping/liviing quarters.

I don't know what happened at the naming ceremony as that is only for the men.  The mama was in her living area surrounded by women family members.  According to custom she is to stay inside for 40 days.

Little Faiza was teeny tiny as she was taken by C-section at 32 weeks.
Tiny, but so beautiful and perfect.

Immediately after the naming ceremony, the food was served.  Bread and tomato sauce for the men, bags of popcorn, sugared, fried cakes for the women and then the large platters of food.  (This was at 8:30am.)

One meal finished and the ladies were working on meal #2 and then meal #3.  You can see the goat being skinned in the background.

Some of the cooks wanted a picture taken of them clowning around.  Lots of laughter.

The partying lasted until sundown.
Guests came and went.
Food was served until it was gone.
The music blared all day long.

Little Faiza was welcomed into the world.