You can call it superstition if you want

Tucked away back towards the Tchakpa stands is where one finds the local fetish market. That is to say, if there is any sorcery you wish to perform, you’ll probably need to make a visit here to find some essential ingredients.

Although foreign religions (namely Islam and Christian sects such as Catholicism) have been adopted by the majority of the population, a substantial portion of the population retains their traditional beliefs (generally known as animism), sometimes while at the same time practicing Islam or Christianity. In fact, when I was counted in the Togolese census and I told them I was neither Muslim nor Catholic, their best next assumption was to put me down as animist!

These traditional practices are often led by healers or notables sometimes known as marabous or charlatans. They perform a variety of healing acts, some based on a degree of science (usually revolving around plants, and hence the connection they have to the botanical garden I’ve previously talked about) and others based on what we’d probably call superstition. That is, it is superstition unless you think it’s real. In that case, you might call it animism, sorcery or gris-gris. This is all where the fetish market that is the topic of the day comes in to play

Understanding their superstitions has been a fairly complicated thing for me to do in my time here. This is in part, because most people have their own interpretations and beliefs for what traditional religion is. I’ll get one explanation from one person and then the next will tell me something slightly different. Yet, what I’ve commonly heard is that people believe that each person has an animal spirit or incarnation attached to their being. Sorcery affects these incarnations or spirits, allowing one to protect themselves from evil spirits/incarnations of others or in some cases inflict certain desired effects on others. But if I was going to simplify it, I would leave it that there is the basic belief that the traditional healers or fetish priests have the power to protect people through certain ceremonies.

According to each case or problem, certain ingredients are necessary for every ceremony, whether they are performed in family or by traditional healers. Some of these ingredients are not easily found and can cost a villager a decent penny. What’s done with the ingredients in the ceremonies one can never be sure of, unless he’s there. But we can marvel at some of the ingredients nonetheless shown in the close up picture. I can’t tell what half of them are myself, but among them are turtle shells, snake skins, rat skins, bird skulls, animal hair and various bones. In other stalls yet are fetish stones, rings, bracelets, shells and additional accessories. The ingredients aren’t the secret, but the ceremony is. If you ask me it’s in the fear of that unknown, from which comes the traditional respect for it, and part of the secret to it too.

Now these beliefs have less sway than they once did. This is evidenced by the fact that they now take water from, swim in and fish in the river and burn brush fires and cut trees that have destroyed countless sacred forests, among other things. These places were formerly very hallowed places and none of them would have been disturbed for fear of upsetting the spirits surrounding these areas. Such is no longer the case. Regardless, the tradition still remains to a degree. Even my favorite mango trees still have fetishes hanging from their branches to help ward of greedy kids from steeling the fruit. That, and the fetish market is clearly still in business as well.

The Village Deli

Relative to the rest of the country, the savannah region is known in Togo for, among other things, its meat. While the south is well known for having abundant fruit, one strong suite of ours is animal husbandry. Our livestock routinely gets shipped down south where it gets a pretty penny. I routinely see bush taxis filling up in my village with guinea fowl. Other times motorcycles leave with crates full of guinea fowl strapped onto the backs of them. Pigs are another staple export of Savanes. I’ve seen moto’s go whizzing by on my road, the drivers pressed up close to their handle bars because they have up to 3 full grown, squealing pigs strapped onto the back, taking up most of the sitting space. Once in Dapaong, bush taxis take them south as extra cargo.

Fortunately for those of us up north, that same meat stays pretty cheap. Of course that’s relative. A live chicken cost $3-4. A goat can cost around $20. It’s still a privilege to eat meat with a meal in village and is by no means present in every meal for the average inhabitant. Nonetheless, we do eat our fare share.

With certain meats the way to go is to buy your animal live and whole and prepare it on the spot. This applies to fish (okay that one doesn’t come in live but it’s one of our biggest sources of protein so I have to mention it), doves, rabbits, chickens, guinea fowl, goats and sheep (increasing respectively in price). However, some of the more costly animals are more often killed by a butcher, brought to market and parceled out on the same day. And thus we come to the subject of this week’s blog; the meat market.

In general, the only day you can get a cut of raw meat in village to bring back to prepare at home is on market day (Beef is one exception, as they are only killed in village sporadically and on random days. Because it’s the most expensive, most steer are herded into Dapaong and slaughtered there). The butchers come in with their meat already cleaned and usually strapped onto the back of a bike. Once there they set up shop and parcel out the raw meat according to the desires of the customer. You can literally go to him, point at the piece of meat you want, tell him how much you want to buy and he cuts you off a slice and bags it in a black plastic baggy. As all other market purchases, he adds a “cadeau” (gift), in this case usually boney or fatty meat (to give your sauce more flavor!), as a gesture to gain or maintain your loyalty to him as your butcher.

On top of their raw meat, they also sell select parts cooked. So if you want a snack after your millet beer you can mosey over to the butcher and request some morsels of meat or innards (can’t waste anything!) dipped in some hot pepper powder to tide you over until the evening.

So what are the meats I can always get fresh in village? Well unfortunately this isn’t a market for Muslims, since they’re all banned for eating in Islamic faith. And for fair warning, two of the three might not agree with an American even if you aren’t Muslim. Anyway, pork is the first and probably the most common. The other two are donkey and dog. The pictures here are of the pig and donkey butchers, who happily abided to pose for us!