The highlight of the week was our
visit to inspect the water system the church is funding in the small
communities of Dos Palmas-Tres Bocas. We
passed a portion of the town where a lot of people were gathered. Daniel Saboe our Peace Corps volunteer
working on the water project told us it was sort of like a “wake” to celebrate
the passing of an important member of the community. A lot of people were gathered in the house
and under a tarp with food, dominoes and just a lot of people coming and going.
We did a little research when we
came back and discovered the Dominican tradition of “Nine-Nights”. Quoting from Wikipedia:
Nine-Nights also known as "Dead Yard" is a funerary
tradition practiced in the Caribbean (primarily Grenada, Jamaica, Guyana,
Trinidad and the Dominican Republic). It is an extended wake that lasts for
several days, with roots in African tradition. During this time, friends and
family come together to the home of the deceased. They share their condolences
and memories while singing hymns and eating food together. In the old days, the
nights were calm and reserved for the most part - but that tradition has
changed with the times. Today, these gatherings resemble parties much more than
they resemble wakes (though this is not true for all “nine-nights”).
Nine-Nights are no longer a time to mourn but a time to celebrate since the
loved one is no longer suffering in life. When friends come they do not come
with just condolences they come with food, drink and music; this is after all a
celebration. True to its name this celebration lasts nine nights and days with
the ninth and final night being the night before the church service. On the
ninth night the family prepares the food for all who come. As tradition has it,
on the ninth night it is believed that the spirit of the deceased passes
through the party gathering food and saying goodbye before continuing on to its
resting place. Out of all the nights this night is the most revered since it is
the end of the celebration. Stories about the deceased and the fondest memories
are shared, along with prayers. Games, such as Dominos, are played as well as
singing hymns, which is also done on the other nights as well.
In order for the deceased to move on there is a process that must happen.
First, there is the "seeing". This is when someone looks at a doorway
and sees the spirit. They then tell someone and that person tells someone and
so on. The leader of the ceremony greets the spirit and then the night song
begins. This is a song played for the spirit while he or she is told stories by
the elders. (Daniel said it is not uncommon for someone to fall to the floor
overpowered with the spirit). Traditionally
on the ninth night of the deceased's death their bed and mattress are turned up
against the wall, in order to encourage the spirit to leave the house and enter
the grave. Then the leader of the ceremony uses a piece of white chalk to draw
a cross over the exit that the spirit used to leave, allowing the spirit to
never return.
The unusual scene is the only
excuse Wallace can give for driving the truck into a deep hole. The front right side of the truck dropped
into the hole up to the running boards. We
thought for sure there was no way we would escape it without having broken a brake
line or tie rod. But a bunch of men
lifted the front of the truck as we backed out and we were happy to discover we
had only suffered dents in the running board and front grill work.
On the way home we felt protected
again. As we were passing a large truck
on the highway loaded sky high with junk metal, there was a sudden loud
explosion that rocked our truck. One of
their tires blew out. We felt lucky to
get past him without incident. No-one,
cars and trucks alike, change a tire regardless of how bald the tire is. They get every last wear out of a tire to the
bitter end. A common sight is to see
truck with paper thin bald tires supporting a heavy load. A blowout just means you got your money’s
worth! The truck below is not the truck
but one we passed the same day with bald tires.
Piedra Blanca (white stone), is
the name of a town we passed through to get to Dos Palmas.
The following are some pictures
we took during our visit. The landscape
is absolutely precious.
We continued to work hard this
week trying to close out projects and button things up for those who follow
us. Unfortunately, none of you
volunteered to take our place so we do not have replacements. The following picture shows the participants
of the Spanish class Wallace teaches each week.
This has been one of Wallace’s favorite activities even though he did it
for selfish reasons, because the teacher always learns more than the students.
