(written December 9, 2012, but not posted correctly)
Here in Foumban, we live in the very heart of the Bamoun tribe. The sultan himself lives in our town, and in fact, we live in (one) of the former queens’ homes. (And yes, my grammar is correct in the previous sentence. This is the home of one of the multiple former queens.) It seems just about everyone we run into is related to the sultan in one way or another. Of course, that’s what happens when the king has multiple wives.
This past week was a week of cultural celebration for the Bamoun tribe. The Ngoun celebrations centered here in Foumban. Apparently, Ngoun has been celebrated for over 550 years! In preparation for the festivities, the town set up a huge celebration site—bulldozing the fairgrounds, setting up tents, putting in lampposts, leveling the roads. It was a huge event! The “fairgrounds” themselves were pretty impressive. I heard from many people that the grounds looked like the Denver airport, but seeing how I’ve never been to the Denver airport, I really can’t compare it to that. Instead, the grounds looked to me like a cross between a medieval jousting arena and an Olympic village. A very odd mix, I know, but that’s how my mind decided to describe it.
We went up and visited the site a few times, both times during the day. Surprisingly, neither time was very crowded. On Saturday, the market was jam-packed. It took Rachel and me about an hour to navigate through the market just to get home. We even saw 13 different white people we didn’t know—an incredible fact considering there are only about 2 other white people in Foumban apart from the missionaries. But, despite the congestion in town, the fairgrounds were pretty uncrowded. We found out later there was a big event at the sultan’s palace. The sultan himself was being judged by a committee to see what type of ruler he had been during the past few years. Apparently, during that judging, he was even dethroned for a time.
The big celebrations occurred during the evening. We never went to the fairgrounds during those events, but we could hear the music all the way at our house (and we’re probably about a mile away from the event). I can only imagine how loud everything must have been on location!
