Tapanahony: The Funeral

As I mentioned earlier, the funeral lasted 3 or 4 months. Since the graanman was in power for over 40 years and widely respected throughout the country, the community needed a long time to say goodbye. The grave took a long time to dig because it was the size of a house. Four or five days a week, men would go to the grave site across the river. I watched the boats leave in the morning and return in the evening. No one was allowed to stand in the water while the grave digger’s boat was traveling to the grave site. Women would bring them lunch.

 Here is a photo of the women pounding rice together for the funeral.

When the gravedigger’s boat returned home, women stood in the river and splashed water.  Everyone else stood on the pier and watched as the boat drove in proud circles. Someone played drums, and someone dressed up. The kids loved it – they ran towards the water, then ran away and screamed when the women splashed them.  (Then the kids tripped over each other and got hurt). The place where the gravedigger’s boat returned each day was a temporary dance floor constructed just for the funeral. Several gorgeous hand-woven pangies hung from the ceiling. This area was in the village, rather than near the gravesite.

The casket had its own room facing the dance floor so that we could see it while we danced. The casket was beautiful. It was wrapped in dozens of pangies (traditional maroon cloth), and covered with a Surinamese flag. It was about 5 tall and 6 or 7 feet wide. A photo of the graanman was placed above the casket. The room had space for the graanman’s wives to sleep behind their deceased husband.

Later, several men gave speeches to the deceased graanman. They updated him on their progress in digging the grave. Photos of the casket and funeral speeches were not allowed, so I have no pictures of this.

Tapanahony: Matt’s Village and Jungle

Next, we toured his village. It is a large island with a phone tower (great phone reception), and a radio station. He showed me his favorite shady spot to sit. By the way, the bench has “fight my” written on it. There is no word written after “my”.

The Obama Restaurant:

Next he led me through the jungle. I can now officially say that I have walked through the Amazon rainforest.

Unfortunately, there are no large wild animals there. All the large animals are farther away from human settlements. However, there were some LOUD bugs.

There was also a pet monkey in the village.

Matt's Neighborhood

Matt’s neighborhood consists of jungle behind his home, several families on one side, and the moon house on the other side. The moon house is the place where menstruating women sleep. Njuka communities sometimes require menstruating women to follow a system of rules about where they can go. Sleeping in a separate house is one of those rules. Basically, Matt is lucky enough to have a rotating group of women on their periods move in next door to him each week!

These are the neighbors’ houses.

This is the view when you step outside his front door

After touring his neighborhood, we went to the river to wash dishes, and fill buckets with river water. (He bathes in the river during the day, and bathes in the shower at night using buckets of river water.)

Matt showed me the spot on the river where he was stung by a sting ray.

“Now,” he instructed, “Wade into the river chest deep and fill up the buckets with water.”

“What about the sting rays?”

“I’m sure they’re gone. Stop standing in the shallow end. The deeper water is cleaner and better for filling buckets. There are lots of other people here.”

“Yes, but all the other people are in the shallow end. There is no one else in the deep end.”

As I waded deeper into the water, one of the women washing dishes noticed my hesitancy.

“San pasa?” (What’s wrong)

“Mi fede den chopula!” (I’m afraid of sting rays!)

“Ay! Yu mus waka so.” (You must walk like this) (Njuka is an English -based language, so if it looks like a word in English, it probably represents that word)  She showed me how to kick sand in front of me and drag my toes in the dirt. Apparently, sting rays run away when kicked from the side, and attack only when stepped on from above.

I dutifully collected the water in the deep part while dragging my toes carefully.

Matt, thanks for trying to kill me.

Tapanahony: Matt's House

Matt took me across the river in his boat! Also featured in this picture is his decorated paddle.

Next, we visited his home. It is an “A frame” house with a two tables and a chair inside. He sleeps in a hammock, which he tucks in a corner each morning.  This is the outside of his house.

This is him in the back of his house, which is his kitchen area. I took the photo from the front door.

He has a latrine a few feet behind his house, and a shower area. He collects buckets of river water and brings them to his shower. This is a picture from his house looking at the latrine.

This is his latrine.

Tapanahony: The Plane Ride

First, there was the plane ride. The plane was the smallest plan I have ever been on! The plane technically had space for about 18 people.  However, since two entire rows were covered with boxes, there were only six seats available.

The view from the plane window was gorgeous.

I have been to Native American villages (like Pierre Kondre Kumbasi) but this is my first time staying in a maroon village. This is also my first time going this far south in the country. Pierre Kondre is a few hours south by bus. This section of the Tapanahony River is an hour south by plane. The environment here is completely different. Redi Doti (which is the Sranan word for red dirt) has lots of red sand. It is the savanna. The Tapanahony River has more mud and some white sand.

When I landed, Matt greeted me at the airstrip, which is not technically in his village. Matt’s village is an island surrounded on either side by the Tapanahony River. The strip is a field next to an elementary school on the mainland.  This photo was taken from the airstrip, looking across that river at Matt’s village.

Broko dei fu a Graanman Intro

I visited Matt, a Peace Corps volunteer in a village on the Tapanahony River (where the funeral is taking place), for a few days during the broko-dei for the graanman of the Njuka people. A broko-dei is a maroon funeral. The Njuka people are descendents of escaped slaves (maroons) who hid in the interior of Suriname. Funerals are typically weeklong celebrations of the life of the deceased. The word broko-dei literally means “break the day” because family members party in front of the casket until dawn. In the interior, the head political figure is called a graanman (like grand man). Since the graanman of the Njuka people was a public figure who was in power for over 40 years, his broko-dei has been a several month long event. He died in 2011, and the funeral is still going on in March of 2012.