© I. Fornasiero
Chad is not only boundless nature and surreal desert landscapes, among the most fascinating in the world, but also tradition, people and culture.
Between the borders of Chad, Niger and Mali, the nomadic tribes of the Peulh, Bororo and Wodabee still move with their herds in search of fertile pastures rich in salt, an essential substance for the animals’ well-being.
Every year, at the end of the rainy season, in September, after months of transhumance, the Bororo of Chad return to their homeland and the young people of marriageable age take advantage of this moment of gathering to get married. The choice is not as private as one might expect, nor as “male chauvinist” as one might think in an archaic society. Quite the contrary!
The betrothal becomes a real collective festival, called Gerewol, in which the young men stage a sort of beauty contest, during which the girls of the clan choose the most handsome one and ask him to marry them.
About a hundred kilometres from N‘Djamena, in the savannah of Dourbali, one of the most evocative gatherings for the Gerewol takes place. A surreal landscape, for a surreal event, in a surreal atmosphere. After a careful make-up session with natural pigments, which enhance the whiteness of their teeth and eyes, the boys wear their typical ornaments made of cauris, coloured fabrics, ostrich feathers and under the effect of natural excitants, they begin to dance continuously, with slow, hypnotic movements, accompanying themselves with even more hypnotic verses and grimaces that highlight their perfect teeth and eyes, reaching a sort of trance that can last for days.
Definitely one of the most impressive traditional events in Sahel-Saharian Africa.
