Of Gods and Men

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  Quatre Bornes, Mauritius
Sunday, April 17, 2011

Sunday was the celebration of the Tamil-Hindu New Year, one of several holy days during the year. They call their holy days Carêmes in French, which we'd translate as Lent. It would seem there is some syncretism occurring. There were noisy processions in the streets all around the island. I heard the one in Quatre Bornes from my room. People carried posters and images of the gods being honored. It is very colorful, passionate and noisy. Some Tamil processions can be rather shocking to the view; men pierce themselves with slender knives or even fishhooks and wear them through the streets as part of their worship.

It was also market day in Quatre Bornes. The covered market is right next to my hotel; it was bustling and noisy all day. Vendors shouted out their wares and the deals they offered; some were obviously hoarse by the end of the day. Shoppers sampled the cloth or clothes or other wares and bargained for better deals. Lines formed before food stalls selling fried foods and sweets. It’s crowded with people, unusual sites and permeating smells.

I spent much of the day working in my room, but took time to walk through the congested market as well. The mix of races is very striking in Mauritius. The island was uninhabited when the first Europeans discovered it. So the population is made up of fairly recent immigrants, often brought here to work, voluntarily or not. When the Dutch and French held the island, they brought in African slaves to work the sugar plantations. Other workers came from Madagascar. The original Malagasy people came from the general area of Indonesia – Borneo in particular, so there is a South Pacific look to many of them. When the English took Mauritius from the French, the former brought in, as they did virtually everywhere in their great Empire, East Indians (including what are now Pakistanis and Sri Lankans) to work in the civil service. Some of the Europeans stayed too. So there are widely different races and cultures and religions present: Christians, Hindus, Tamils, Muslims and even a small Jewish population. Skin tones go from very light to very dark with many shades in between. On the street one sees women dressed in modest Indian saris, others in French-style dresses, others in blue jeans, others in track suits, and others in very short shorts. All that is to be found on one rather small island. It’s hard for me to think of a place to compare to the concentrated mix of peoples here in Mauritius; it seems to me unique.

It was interesting in the midst of the religious cacophony of the day to know we would commemorate the New Testament Passover in the evening. The quiet simplicity of the ceremony was quite a contrast to the noise and confusion of the day’s processions. And honoring the God who meekly accepted a gruesome and undeserved death to take the place of guilty people, does contrast with the posters and statues of gods with tongues extended, carrying knives, swords and sometimes the heads of enemies they had slain.

We were seven to take the New Testament Passover, with Jacqueline’s two daughters there to observe. It was the first time for all the members present that they had participated in the ceremony conducted by a minister in person. They have always had to use either written instructions or a recorded service up until now, so that was a special touch to an already moving ceremony.

After the service I drove back to the hotel under a beautiful full moon that lit the fantastic scenery of this beautiful island. I found it especially beautiful this night.

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