Christmas in the Jungle

It’s called Bedaki, actually – Christmas in Saramacca land, that is. Just like in America, it is a much anticipated day and the kids go craaazy. Everyone in the village was very insistent that I spend Christmas and New Years in Pikin Slee, but that was not the plan since Ariel was coming in on the 28^th. They almost convinced me to try to make it back in time for New Years, but that was just too quick of a turn around – and I’d heard that New Years in the city was worth seeing.

So that meant I was even more looking forward to Xmas because I’d be missing New Years with my neighbors. But the main countdown was really to Ariel’s visit – it just so happened that I was leaving for the city the day after Bedaki so it all worked out.

Anyway, lemme tell you about Christmas out here. Bedaki is not very Christian or western or anything like that. As far as I could tell, the most western thing about it was that it happened on Dec 25^th. The way you celebrate it is somewhere between Caroling and Trick-or-Treating. Basically, you wander around to your various friends and neighbors houses and shout ‘Bedaki! Bedaki! Bedaki!’ (occasionally getting in brief, friendly contests for who will say it louder/more sing-songy/more times). And then the people at the house give you cake, some kind of snack, or something drink.

To prepare, I made 2 banana breads the night before and I actually helped one of my friends make one that day of – so I was pretty well baked, you might say! Only in the Dutch Oven sense, however. I actually made the 3^rd one in a real oven though, now that I think about it!

After baking and all of that, I decided to really get into the fun of things by getting my hair braided! The pictures are hidden somewhere in the online albums (probably), but let’s just say…it was ridiculous beyond words. I had been hoping to meet Ariel at the airport with cornrows, but…well I just couldn’t.

One time, the sixth grade girls in my youth group braided my hair during a rain storm and it turned out in great corn rows. Except for one which they messed up and so it came out really quick. One time, some six year old girls did my hair…and they kinda just put a rubber band around the base of each lock of/curl of hair and pronounced me beautiful. They used yellow rubber bands and so I kind of looked like a macaroni drawing of medusa.

For Bedaki, I decided to go for the pros – women about my age (sisters) who are married to two of my closest friends in the village. It all started off so well…great corn rows, solid but not so tight they hurt…but then they got closer to my foreheaded and decided they wouldn’t be able to go all the way with the cornrows. So I ended up with 4 medusa-macaroni curls for…umm… bangs I guess? It was so ridiculous (and they were so pleased with themselves) that I decided to leave it in until I got to the city the next day just so more people could marvel in the glory.

My Peace Corps friends did not disappoint – they described the look as a cross between Hellboy and that time Justin Timberlake got cornrows. Yup. That good.

So anyway, after, getting my hair done with my girlfriends, I did just a little Carol-and-Treating and then another of my friends asked me to come help her make roti. Roti is a yummilicious food that both Ariel and my parents now understand. Why the rest of you don’t understand, I don’t know. Seriously, I think it makes a huge amount of sense as a convenience/fast food in America.

It’s Indian food, so there’s curry and potatoes and other vegetables and then you can get meat, tofu, egg, whatever after that. It would work great as a competitor to Subway or Chipotle - choose your ingredients, roll it up, and off you go. Really, it’s just an Indian food burrito anyway. But tasty! And pretty healthy and cheap, so I feel like it should come to America. Not sure why it isn’t there yet. I’m trying to talk one of my Peace Corps friends into opening a restaurant making it when we finish up. We’ll see on that front.

Annn-errrr-whey, roti turned out to take up the entire rest of my day. Not exactly my plan, since I wanted to do more of the traditional (village style) holiday stuff, but on the upside I now know how to make roti! I will now pass this knowledge on to you!

1. Mix yellow split peas and cloves of garlic and then grind them up into a chunky powder

2. Make dough (tortilla style) and pinch off balls of it.

3. Make a dent in the ball and fill it up with the powder from before, and then reform the ball so that the powder is in the middle.

4. Roll that ball flat and lightly fry it on a skill it so that it becomes like a tortilla – but it is actually a roti wrap!

5. Make lots of curried vegetables, meats, etc

6. Put the curried vegetables, meats, etc into the roti wrap

7. Fold/wrap the roti up and then enjoy!

I ate much roti. And just plain fried dough. It was pretty awesome.

So, didn’t get any presents. Didn’t get much loot in general, really (though had a belly full of tasty food, so that’s good enough!). But it was a good day nonetheless. And a really nice last day in the village before heading in to meet up with Ariel.