Unveiling

I went to Petermaritzburg to attend a tombstone unveiling at Sanele’s home. This is nothing like a funeral – for one thing the people whom the tombstones are being unveiled for have often been dead for several years. The unveiling occurs at least a year after the funeral, but often longer as the party and the tombstones are very expensive. At this particular event three tombstones were being unveiled (there were five cakes though – two for people whose tombstones are elsewhere). It is truly a party with lots of food (meat and amacaki) and dancing and drinking and used as a time to honor the lives of those departed. I got to Sanele’s home on Friday night and hung out until late in the night when I went to bed with Sanele’s fiancé and sister. I woke up early in the morning and helped to decorate the tent and cook the food. Decorating and cooking are not to be considered a prelude to the event, but are actually a main part of the day not to missed out on. I am becoming an expert on peeling butternut with dull knives without cutting myself and chopping beetroot without staining every item of clothing fuscia. For me it still hard to tell when the preparations stop and the party begins because the really blur together and overlap all day, but at least I know now not to expect an official start time.
Some ways I know I am adapting to my new environment:
1. When fresh cow liver is offered as a midnight snack after a few beers I don’t even bat an eyelash.
2. I find it very intelligent as opposed to weird when a cabinet door is used to carry the meat into the tent even though the hinge has not been removed which makes the cutting of the meat (an uneven surface) very tricky. Come on, it’s got a handle to carry the meat in with!!!!!
3. When one of the first things I see in the morning is men taking machetes to the four cow heads in order to get the brains out and I am perfectly content to watch while I brush my teeth.
4. When my reaction to a strange woman peeing in my bath bucket is not anger over the act of peeing in my bath water (I was done after all), but anger over her not greeting me! I then wondered who was now responsible for throwing it out.
Alena met us there in the afternoon after 11 hours or traveling from her site and shortly after that Jamie and Justin (former Peace Corps volunteers now living in South Africa and working here) came to pick us up for dinner. From the unveiling and it’s numerous induna greetings, Zulu dancing, raw meat, leering drunk men and smoky rounduvalls to a nice Italian restaurant in town with bottles of red wine, spinach stuffed pasta, anchovies (as opposed to pilchards), daily specials and waiters in long white aprons! I am learning to move quickly and easily between the two worlds of South Africa and often don’t realize how very strange it is until I reflect back.