Journey to Africa

Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Rabbits...


So one night while we were in Niamey, we were driving back to the guesthouse and came to a stop at a red light. We looked over and this was the sight we were met with!!!

These little boys paint themselves up. They are supposed to be representing rabbits (not entirely sure why). They do this during the evenings of Ramadan.

But not only do they paint themselves up and stand at stoplights, they also bring drums to beat on and they dance along with them. They will actually shake their behinds for the people who drive by!!! At first, we weren't sure what to do - do we laugh at them, do we ignore them? But we later found out that they are doing it to have fun and so they want people to laugh and play along with them. And of course, a cadeau (a gift) wouldn't hurt either!!

This is a picture of the boys dancing. This has probably been one of the strangest cultural things we have seen so far!!