A couple days before a wedding, or baby naming ceremony, someone will go around handing out ‘Shoongum.’ (Yes, that’s the Hausa word for whats pictured.) We were always told that receipt of same was an ‘invitation’ to the planned festivities.When we ask Ad. if she’s going to help prepare food for an event like these in her neighborhood, her typical response is quite interesting. “They gave me shoongum… so of course I will help them prepare food.” Mind you, food preparation often takes a number of women much of the day before the main event. Its just an interesting example to us of how we might interpret something as a straight invitation, but in Hausa culture, the implicit request for community help is clear. Indeed, many community events here remind us of the strong tendency of the local community (esp Chr community) to help each other out, much like in our tradition of a 19th century tradition of barn raising.
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