Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Fete du roi











Every year, the king (le roi) of Oussouye hosts a feast.  The main attraction at the feast is the Loot.  This is a traditional Senegalese wrestling event.  Young people from each village walk together to Oussouye to wrestle the young people from other villages in groups of people their own age and sex. All the wrestlers from one village arrive together and sit on one side of the wrestling field. Then, the loot begins with the king coming in dressed in red, along with a king from another village that he invited, followed by a procession of the king's officials and special guests, such as the mayor. A wrestler from one village will walk over to the place where the wrestlers from another village are sitting and challenge one of them to a match by pointing at them.

During the loot there are matches going on at the same time all over the field.  When a wrestler wins by a long shot, their village cheers for them.  We also saw plenty of guys pick up their opponent and slam them down on the ground, all to shouts and cheers from their village posse. 

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