As little children growing up in Zanzibar, there were two
religious festivals that we looked very much forward to. The first feast was
Christmas, which was celebrated at the Goan Club and the second one was the
Muslim feast of Eid.
The Eid festival was celebrated on the Mnazi Moja grounds
where vendors staked their areas by installing poles (boritis) around and
selling whatever they had.
As young children, we were generally money strapped, but we
had enough money to buy freshly fried bajias and samosas. Some vendors sold
freshly cut oranges and sugarcane which was sold for one pice (a black coin
with a weigh scale on one side). I was particularly drawn to the vendor who
sold ice-cream cubes for five cents each. The milk ice cube cost ten cents. The
crowds milled around looking for deals. I remember spending most of my money at
the stall where you pitched a ring that looked like a mini hoop on articles
that were kept a few feet away. If the ring covered the article it was yours.
Then what is a Fair without a Merry-go-round? Unfortunately,
the horses on this set looked very old and parts of the horses were already in
a state of rigor mortis. Yet they looked like horses (somewhat) and as kids we
felt the compulsion to ride them, if we could not ride the real things. When I
mounted the horse, I noticed that the whole roundabout was being propelled
around by three strong men, shirts off exhibiting their sweating, sinewy bodies
as they ran along in unison pushing the horses on their way. I half enjoyed the
ride for I became aware that I would be enjoying myself through the misery of
three panting, tired individuals who were trying to make a living.
We were warned not to take a ride on the ‘Tumbling Boxes.’They were also physically propelled around but had a
reputation for getting stuck when you least
expected it. At one time the box right on top had to be vacated by bringing in the fire brigade. This was no fun.
Further away from the crowd was a big gathering of Muskaty
Arabs performing some traditional Arab dances using large swords which they
hurled at each other quite Menacingly As young kids we took these assaults
during the dance quite literally and waited in anticipation to see which head
would be decapitated.
There was one stall that had all kinds of fancy articles
which could be yours if you bought a ticket for fifty cents and if your number
was called. This raffle went on all day and there were quite a few happy
winners.
My mother once won twenty shillings in one of these raffles
and like all good mothers she asked us what we would like to do with her
winnings. The consensus was that we should take in a six o’clock movie at the
Empire Cinema. Little did we know that the movie that was showing was Dr.
Jekyll and Mr. Hyde? For those of you who have seen this movie you will recall
that Dr. Jekyll suddenly changes his appearance into an ugly monster after he
ingests a portion of his own creation in his laboratory. During this transformation
my brothers and I covered our eyes with fear much to our mother’s amusement.
That night we had some of the most sordid dreams that woke up mother several
times to offer us some comfort.
Since the (Eid) Sikuku celebrations went on for three days,
we were back at the fair the next day.
One of the attractions was ‘Caragosi’. This was
a puppet show which was accompanied by unusually loud drumming that had
little to do with the show itself. The puppets spoke Swahili and the story that
was being acted out had a whole lot of violence that set the crowd in splits of
laughter. I found myself laughing more because the crowd was in hysterics.
Rumour had it that late at night the puppets were given to
explicit sex scenes and only adults were admitted to the show. Poor Puppets!
Christmas, on the other hand, was celebrated at the Goan
Institute. The Christmas Tree celebration was held early in the afternoon when
all the children were herded into the grounds in front of the club to wait the
arrival of Santa Claus. Santa Claus
usually wore the traditional red suit, had a long beard, and a red hat with a
tassel. He wore 'gum boots’and rode in on a rickshaw. Very young children found him
threatening and cried their eyes out, whereas the older kids waved their hands
frantically since Santa was known to come bearing gifts.
Santa did his job well with his ‘Ho! Ho! Ho-ing!’ and his deep voice crying out ‘Merry Christmas.’
And what is Christmas without a whole lot of sweets and
ice-cream!! After getting the kids to take part in various activities such as
musical chairs which was hilarious, toys were distributed to each of them. All
the toys were bought through the subscriptions made by parents. This was kept a
guarded secret from the kids.
By six o’clock in the evening, the kids were reluctantly
taken home. At seven in the evening the adults came in for their Christmas
dance. Most women wore long flowing dresses and those men who could afford it
wore dress suits complete with cumber bands otherwise they came in wearing
ordinary suits. The dances usually went on until 1 a.m. but many in attendance
would leave a little before midnight since there was a feeling that after
midnight those men who were getting sauced at the bar would start up fights. Most
popular women kept a pad a paper to write down the name of partners who requested
dances from them in the order in which they were requested. I thought that was
pretty cool!
The music in those days was provided by Isaac Menezes who
played the drums and he had a piano player, a violinist and a trumpeter. His
music was tolerated as the best at the time until he was replaced by Anthony
(Pop) Mendes and his orchestra who came out with more contemporary music. I
distinctly remember his invitation to Tony Almeida from Daressalaam who played
on his clarinet all those catchy tunes made popular by Artie Shaw and his
Orchestra.
The celebrations of Christmas and Eid in Zanzibar will always
be a milestone in my memory. Christians and Muslims got along like ‘ndugus’ (brothers). We did not have to say to each other that we
loved each other. It showed very much in our innate tolerance that we were human
beings who cared. There was unity in our diverse religious affiliations who
believed that both groups paid homage to the same ‘Mungu.’
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