More Gravy Than the Grave

There were so many amazing days on the recent trip to Zanzibar - and as I get a little distance from the journey itself it seems more and more unreal.  If I were pressed to pick a best day I might go with our first day in Pemba.  We opened the day with an extraordinary flight on tiny planes from Dar Es Salaam, crossing over Zanzibar itself, and landing in Pemba.  After getting settled in the Seaview Motel we brought the students to a preserve that housed seven thousand flying foxes - and then brought them to a spirit possession featuring a powerful Waganga.  As I've discussed, the origins of this trip go back to me reading about traditional animistic practices which seemed startlingly familiar to voodoo (one of Steve's areas of expertise), except that in this case the shamans are Islamic.  Once I shared this information with Steve, and pestered him a bit, the trip took shape very quickly.  The ceremony itself was fascinating, although I'm sure Steve understood it on a much deeper level than I did.  The students seemed impressed, and since it was carried out in the afternoon and not in the evening, they were not completely freaked out.  I have to admit that at one point in the ceremony, when a student asked me my opinion, I murmured that there was more gravy than the grave about the ceremony (I'm not certain if that got the Dickens reference or not).  However, even if you've commodified the experience it is still a fit subject for study.  Having said all that, as we were leaving the waganga said something very interesting to me, which I might share someday.

Steve telling the crowd how lucky they are to have such a powerful waganga.  He could not have been happier, and I'd hate to predict how many more ceremonies he's going to experience on future trips to Pemba.

The musicians preparing for the ceremony.  The shot is a little out of focus, but I like it simply because it shows that there is no place or no time when cell phone use is not present.

The waganga dancing and leaving this world.  It was impossible to sit there and not immediately revert to the role that music and dance had played at the Hindu temple a couple days earlier.

The students were more worried about the chicken than their immortal souls, which is in itself very revealing.

The offering which was a central part of the ceremony.

As the experience progressed more and more people were inhabited by spirits, with one of most active being a woman at times dominated the ceremony, and who we later learned was the wife of the waganga.

Many people played a role in the ceremony itself, even if they were not possessed.

At one point the waganga began to speak in tongues and went from student to student shaking hands and offering blessings.

At various times the spirits dove face first into the offering plate.

At the end there was an interesting exchange where the spirits didn't want to leave and asked for better offerings.

At the end the waganga allowed the students to enter his personal shrine, which was inside of a massive baobab tree.  For some reason he would not allow me in, allegedly because of time constraints and the schedule - which is an amazing comment in East Africa.

I mainly want to know what she was thinking.