An Afternoon at the Fair.

I had quite a packed afternoon! Mr. Waid told us stories of how they adopted their daughter and how many miracles it took to do so. Then he shared how the orphanage got started and so many other stories. It was a great way to spend some of the afternoon. Then, After lunch we went for a short little walk around the closest village. A group of us grabbed two kids and we lead them out of the orphanage. This was a real treat for them because they don’t get to leave very often. On the walk we saw a calf that had just been born several minutes before. It was so cool to see. 

On the second walk we took, with the other group of kids, we heard beating drums and yelling. It kept getting closer and closer until we saw them coming down the road. I learned that these were Hindus and this was the last day of one of the festivals celebrating this particular god. 5 nearby villages take their idols and bring it to a certain spot and worship on the last day of their festival. We took the kids back and a few of the teachers and Banni took us out to see this festival. They call it a fair. There are a few booths set up selling jewelry and hair accessories. There’s also toys being sold and other fair type trinkets. One of the traditions here at the fair, is to take some paint on your hands and then try and smear it all over peoples faces. It was mostly the kids that got in on this game but sometimes an adult would fight back, trying to get revenge. A little boy came up and smeared dark purple paint on Banni’s face. I managed to escape this, but it could be that they would’ve had to jump to get up to my face. The main thing at this fair was the drums and dancing. Many men, with drums or without, all danced around. It was more like a mosh pit. There wasn’t any pattern to this dance but it was more of uncontrolled, spastic movement. It was quite an experience to watch. 

We came back for a bit and then all of a sudden I saw Banni and one of the teachers running toward the gate. I figured they were going to watch the idols be thrown into the pond, so I went with them. (The Hindu's take their idols and throw them into water after the festival is done.) We ran to the other side of the pond just outside our compound and found the small group of villagers still dancing around and beating drums. Then they took the idol off the cart and carried it into the middle of the pond. As soon as they let the idol fall into the water, they all started throwing the mud all over each other and the small group on the side. We waited till they were done throwing mud and then went back over to where they had carried a lady who had fainted. I thought she might have died but then I saw her breathing. They were smacking her face, pulling her ears, prying her mouth open, but nothing would revive her.  They tried putting her face over some smoking wood as well. We left before we found out when she woke up. I had an eire feeling watching all of this take place.

The whole afternoon was a really neat experience and it made me really glad that I only serve ONE God and don’t need to worry about loosing His love if I don’t give him sacrifices and build statues of Him to worship.