Sharing Culture Part 1 : HALLOWEEN!

Did you know that Halloween is a very American holiday? I dont know if I had ever thought of it until last weekend, but the good 'ol USA is one of the few (if not the only) country that truly celebrates Halloween with the Trick or Treating...the pumpkin carving...and the free candy! Well, in an effort to spread awareness of American culture Charlie and I decided we needed to celebrate Halloween here in Hanga.

The day began by wishing my kids at school Happy Halloween and then explaining some of our traditions. One of the main quests for the day was finding somthing to carve. There are no pumpkins around this region of Tanzania at this time of year, so we had to carve what we could find...a not quite ripe but perfectly round and green PAPAYA! I spotted it in the tree and got permission to go and get it. so i climbed the tree! ever seen a carved papaya before? now you have. I bet you didn't know that first picture was a carved papaya.

These were the costumes from the first part of the night. Charlie came to dinner dressed as Anne and she came dressed as Charlie. It was pretty scary if you ask me! Lennart and I just decided to be ourselves.

After dinner, Charlie and I decided this would be a perfect opportunity/excuse to shave our heads. It is hot...we dont like having to shampoo every day...and most Tanzanians are bald (yes even the women) so we would fit right in.


But of course, it wouldn't be much of a "costume" if the haircut was normal. So i decided to keep the mo-hawk and charlie kept a mean looking gotee. Dont we look like we mean business?

A summary of the events of the day: the africans thought we were crazy for cutting up and putting a burning candle in a pre-ripe fruit and I got laughed at by all of my students at school on Monday as well as every villager I passed on my way to school on my bike. I deserved it, though. I did look pretty funny.

I think we have successfully spread this bit of American holiday culture. I am a little worried for the volunteers here next year, though. I can just hear their students, "On Halloween all americans shave their heads, right?!"