That was all that went through my mind at that moment! I was sitting on the curb waiting to see the doctor with one of my co-workers. We thought that I was exhibiting signs of malaria-- but it turned out just to be the flu. While I was sitting and waiting ever so patiently, I saw the strangest thing happen. A mother with her small child on her lap were sitting on a bench. This woman is Oromo (a tribe) and not from the town of Zeway. She is from the countryside which was evidenced by her clothing, hairstyle, and the belongings she had with her. A woman walked out of the clinic and when they saw eachother they began the traditional greetings of kissing each others cheeks multiple times. But in the middle of this the standing woman spit on the child's head and continued greeting. Now, this spit seemed like it just fell from her mouth like an accident... in fact I almost didn't see it happen.. but no it did! The mother smiled and happily smeared the spit into the child's head. Then the standing woman made noises and landed a huge loogie on the childs head. With that the mother was even happier as she rubbed this onto her baby's head.
My co-worker didn't see it happen and when I explained what I saw he laughed and almost couldn't believe it either as he had never seen something like that happen. He thought that it must be that she was spitting on the child because of the all seeing eye. It's a spiritual belief out in the countryside: neither Muslim or Orthodox-- just a belief. By spitting on the child she was saying that the had no part in the sickness and was showing good will toward the child getting better.
The ironic part is this happened in a doctor's office!
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1 comment:
How bizarre...but kinda cool to witness a tradition so out of the ordinary.
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