the Gerewol and the Yaké

The core of the gathering of nomads that takes place in northern Niger at the end of every year's rainy season is the performance throughout the week of 'dances' by the young men, who are competing to be selected as the most beautiful.  There are two main dances, the Gerewol, after which the festival is named, and the Yaké, which is featured in most of the photographs one might see of the event.  The costumes, make-up and jewellery are traditional, as are the chants and movements that the men perform to show off their attributes.  Height, symmetry of features and white eyes and teeth are prized.

The dances start in the late morning with the Yaké - by far the most impressive, to my mind.  Firstly the men have to prepare, their hair braided (often by a sister), traditional costumes donned, and the make-up carefully applied by the participants themselves.  The yellow (and later red) make up is natural, but I was told that battery acid is used by some to make the black colour applied to the mouth and eyes.  We were able to see all of this preparation taking place, and I have to say that some of the young men were stunning!!

This is a picture of the Yaké dance being performed:

At the same time as the Yaké is taking place, other young men will be preparing themselves for the Gerewol dances which take place during the afternoon and all through the night.  These involve a different costume and different make-up, but with the same objectives.  Here you can see some Gerewol participants showing off the whites of their eyes and teeth!

This is the first, main, part of the performance, which can have around 70 participants, and after which a much smaller number are selected for a 'dance-off', with more vigorous movements. It wasn't clear who makes this selection.  In the Gerewol dance, this 'dance-off' follows the removal of the initial headpiece and the application in its place of a kind of 'plume'.

Female judges (we only saw two per dance, but apparently there can be more) watch their performance and indicate their selected winner by pulling on the plume.  I didn't get to find out how the judges are appointed, but they also sport traditional hairstyles and jewellery, and follow a convention of shielding their faces from the audience with their hands, whilst slowly walking up and down the line of participants to make their choice - not directly looking at them, with their whole performance being very coy.  I also didn't see them make their selection, as despite the presence of men wielding sticks to beat back the audience if they approach the participants too closely, it always descended into apparent chaos at the end, with everyone rushing forward to see who was going to win.

The audience is made up of a mixture of young women - who all stay together - and men, some seated and some standing, and behind them the Touaregs on their camels.  The Touaregs don't participate in the dances (perhaps better termed beauty contests?) and no-one explained to me why they attend.  The women check out the contestants carefully, for this festival is basically - how can I put this? - a chance for the young people to get laid!  With the women in the driving seat.

Apparently the hair protruding over the forehead is the sign that a particular woman or girl is 'up for it' - and there is no judgement against this behaviour, everything is allowed during the festival.  I suppose when you normally spend the year travelling, with just your family group and your animals, this is understandable.  The liaisons can lead to marriage, but they can equally be just a bit of fun - and I heard that the girls can be quite competitive, trying to out-do eachother in the number of beautiful young men they can bed (I also heard that STIs are rife).  The activity is not restricted to single women either - apparently beauty is so highly prized amongst the Wodaabe that a man will accept his wife sleeping with a beatiful dance participant, reasoning that should she become pregnant, the baby will be more beautiful than if he had fathered it himself!!

So, all in all, a lot to take in, and I am still processing what I saw some two weeks after the festival.  It certainly lived up to - and indeed surpassed - my expectations.