Babyhood Blues...

Today my 3 year old neighbor, Ilias, was circumcised. The whole extended family gathered in the house for the ceremony (while I wasn't there for the actual circumcision, I saw a video later.) He was dressed in a fancy jellaba and a ceremonial hat. The doctor, I was happy to see, wore gloves for the procedure. He was laid down on a cloth while his father and uncles helped hold him down. After the circumcision, he was bandaged and put on a blanket on his mother's lap in the bedroom.

Poor Ilias was pretty unhappy with the world when I got to see him a few minutes later. His aunt, who speaks English very well and has gone out of her way to befriend me during her stay in the village for Ramadan, came to get me and invited me in to see Ilias. He sat crying on his mom's lap, although I think some of his tears were from anger (that they did this to him) rather than from the pain of the procedure. While normally he is a very happy kid, today he was definitely not. He didn't want anything to eat, didn't want to see anyone but his mom, and was very unhappy that the rest of the family was celebrating. He threw a fit every time his picture was taken, tried to hit his uncles when they came in to kiss him, and called everything and everyone "UriHli" (which translates roughly as bad, ugly, horrible, etc.)

Other than poor Ilias being unhappy, it was a fun day. Every once in awhile, I look around and really feel like I'm in Morocco and integrated into the community. Today was one of those days. Since Ilias didn't want company, I sat out in the courtyard with his many aunts, uncles, and cousins and clapped along as they sang traditional songs and celebrated the circumcision. They had drums, some clappers similar to castanets, and even brought out a piano.  Everyone was very happy, as a boy's circumcision is a fairly big deal with many traditions involved. According to my neighbor (who is wonderful about answering my many questions about life here), a boys circumcision is one of the tenets of Islam and is set out in the Koran.

Although I'm sure the family would have welcomed me staying all afternoon, I left after lunch. (We ate couscous crouched around a table they brought out to the courtyard.) While I enjoy hanging out with my neighbors, I sometimes still feel overwhelmed by the loud and boisterous music, the many people milling around (there were probably 30 in the tiny house) and the mixture of Tashelhit and Arabic being spoken. Still, it was a fun day. Tomorrow, I plan on taking Ilias some M&Ms, since he asks me for some almost every day. Hopefully, he's feeling a bit more like himself.