Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road?

....to get away from the crowd of Tanzanians chasing it on Independence Day!

Sunday December 9, 2007 was Tanzanian Independence Day. Tanzania was granted independence from the British on December 9, 1961 (those darn Brits!) so this year marks the 46th year of independence. Not a milestone anniversary...but a day that may have just passed by quietly if I wasn't such a curious person. (Sometimes to a fault! ask my sister about how I used to peek at not only mine, but also her Christmas presents when we were kids...ok..I did it last year too!)

A brief history:
A German colony from the 1880s until 1919, the area (which at the time did not include the island of Zanzibar and was known as Tanganyika) subsequently became a British Mandate from 1919 to 1961. It served as a military outpost during World War II and provided financial help as well as munitions. Julius Nyerere became Minister of British-administered Tanganyika in 1960 and continued as Prime Minister when Tanganyika became independent in 1961. Tanganyika and neighbouring Zanzibar, which had become independent in 1963, merged to form the nation of Tanzania on April 26, 1964.

Garbage bonfire

When I woke up on Sunday morning and set off for breakfast...most people seemed to simply be going about their day.. There were crowds of children and their mothers coming back from church. People setting bonfires to burn their garbage. Women hanging out laundry to dry. Taxi drivers trying to drum up business. Nothing seemed unusual...The dogs were still howling. The wind was still blowing and the clouds were still shrouding Kilimanjaro.

However at around 9:30 in the morning I heard a strange (stranger than the normal strange noises) noise. A marching brass band was parading past the front of my room belting out a strange but parady (not a word!) type song. Marching behind the band was a group of about 20 women all dressed similarly (blue kangas, yellow shirts, white head scarves). The group was marching up the road to the stadium. Once the noise faded and they finished marching past...I almost forgot they had even existed until a few hours later when I was walking past the stadium on my way back from a very tiring "I am one of the idiots (hi Adel and Timmy!) who is going to climb Kilimanjaro" fitness walk.

The Stadium

There was a lot of noise coming from the stadium...so I peeked in. I am so happy I did. The stadium was filled with joyous Tanzanians all there for a day-long exhibition/celebration in honour of Tanzanian Independence. I only stood at the back by myself for about a minute before I was welcomed by one of the event organizers to take a front row seat (better for taking photos he said) to witness the festivities. I only stayed for about an hour the ceremony was being conducted in Swahili and my translator was supposed to be working at the event so I didn't want to take up too much of his time.

It was part May Day, (remember the Soviets? Nyet?) and part family picnic...here's why:

1) The entire time... (except for the end of the day football match) a squadron of military police, brandishing bayonets, were in formation in the centre of the stadium field. I felt so sorry for them as it seemed they were going to have to stand for the entire event. However, I was more worried about the bayonets. What if one went off accidentally? What if someone tripped and fell on their bayonet? I have never been somewhere where so many things are guarded by guns (Here most banks have armed guards with visible weapons...sometimes automatic -Uzis...sometimes shotguns...the bigger the bank the bigger the guns). Most of the fancier homes have guards (askaris) stationed outside...even the university has guards outside of all the gates..however they are only armed with nightsticks.

The guards standing at attention.

2) Tug-of-war
For the top prize of 50 000 Schillings ($50) we watched groups of "opposites" pitted against each other in a fierce and hilarious tug-of-war battles. First up were the retired men vs. the CCM (Chama Cha Mapinduzi- Party of the Revolution in Swahili) CCM is the ruling political party of Tanzania who's current president, Jakaya Kikwete, has led the party since 2006.

The retired men took only a few seconds to pull the CCM workers to the ground. It was an impressive victory which saw most of the CCM side land face down in the dirt covered ground of the stadium and one winners on the retired men side leap almost three feet in the air for victory. Next up were the housewives against the female office workers. I had my money on the housewives, but sadly, the female office workers kicked some major butt.

3) Chicken (and duck) Chase
If you can catch it you can eat it. First the men, then the women. A chicken is set free in the stadium and whoever catches it, gets to keep not only the chicken, but a 5Kg bag of rice and a 4 litre plastic jug of sunflower oil. Sounds like a nice Sunday dinner! I have a hilarious video of a crowd of about 20 men, running all over the stadium, waving their arms and yelling, chasing a chicken. The women got to chase a duck...I think ducks run slower...so it was a little favouritism or sexism..depends on how you look at it.

Sadly chasing chickens (and goats...and ducks!) seems to be a generally accepted form of family entertainment here. I, of course, end up feeling sorry for the poor chicken, but then again if they just didn't always come home to roost they would have half a chance at escaping.

4) Football Match
Everything seems to end with a football (soccer match) here in Moshi. People are football crazy. A big match was held in the stadium to finish off the day of festivities. I didn't stay to watch but we did see the winners, driving around in the back of a truck downtown with their trophy.

Independence Day...Moshi style. No huge fireworks displays. in style...very laid back...and a little strange (to me at least!). I have always equated Independence day celebrations with fun.

Canada Day is one of my favourite holidays. I look forward to ideally, being in Ottawa on Parliament Hill, walking around dressed in red and white, lining up for poutine (fresh cheese curds and hot gravy on fresh cut french fries) from an Ottawa fry truck, devouring a beavertail (it's a type of flat doughnut...I am not THAT cruel) and getting a neck spasm from craning to watch fireworks.

I asked a few Tanzanians I encountered on the way back from the stadium (Judah and Sully-both lecturers at MUCCoBS) why most people (except for the people in the stadium) seemed to be nonchalant about what I perceived to be a very important day. I was told, "Back when Tanzania was a one-party state people celebrated Independence day because they were expected to. If you held any position of high regard you were expected to attend official events to celebrate independence. Now that Tanzania is a multi-party state, no one bothers anymore."

Strange...the freedom to celebrate results in the decision not to celebrate the freedom to celebrate because you now have the freedom to decide what you want to do. That itself deserves a celebration!