Naming Ceremony

Yesterday was the naming ceremony for Binta and Kawsu's youngest two children. This ceremony is basically just a big party that lasts all day. We started getting ready at about 9 in the morning. Everybody looks their absolute best for the naming day ceremony. For the women, that means lots of make up, nail polish, bags, shoes, and dresses. I say lots, because everybody changes throughout the day, including their make up. Binta put on a new outfit every hour! She had to bring an entire suitcase full of clothes just for the one day. Each outfit was more colorful and elaborate than the last, and each had shoes and bag to match. I only had one outfit, but it was specially made for me for that day. I'm not sure if it looked to good on me, because when people would see me their first reaction was always laughter. I heard a lot of "Today you are African" type statements too. Another big part of the day is everybody compliments everybody else on how beautiful they look and how nice their clothes are. I liked this part.
My favorite part of the day, however, had to be the dancing. After the sun goes down and the temperature drops from unbearably hot to tolerably hot, the band comes and everybody gets up and starts shaking it. Some of the women were trying to teach me how to do African dancing, but for the most part my attempts were again met with laughter. The band calls the names of people in the crowd and then everybody rushes to the front with money in hand. Someone holds out a huge metal bowl and everybody starts throwing money into this bowl to show that they like the music. The whole day had that same exuberant, extravagant atmosphere. By the time I left at around 10:30, while the party was still raging, I was ready for bed.