Ams, I would agree to disagree with what you put forward, yes far "dayjj" or funerals, it is wrong for anyone to profit from the inevitable but I think also as decent individuals and for that matter as a society,to give money to the bereaved family which is a jihad in its own right.Even western societies has a mechanism helping the bereaved family during such a turbulant time by providing assistance in the form of cash at the time of death and after as a widow allowance. In our society seldomly that we give assistance to a male widower but generally its given to the women because most, if not all do not work to help and feed the family long after the bread winner has gone, but I also disagree to the style of the senegalese where funerals are treated as "Houmbales" and presents and cash are exchanged, the road is bumpy ahead and they should know better what to do with the money.As for Naming ceremonies or any other event, it depends to the individual to decides what best for him to spend his money, if you are soft hearted and orators find their way to get to you by what your great grand fathers has done, and you choose to live in the limelight then you are the "GUEWELS" fish and I have no problem with that, people choose the way they spend their money and I think thats their right. I know you have your own way of spending your money and no one has the right to say no to that, its your hard earn cash, so does the others, it doen't mean if you do not agree to that way of life,then is wrong,its not that case of wrong and right, its the will of the people, they choose what they feel is right for them. Ams is it right to celebrate life after death, if its yes then I rest my case, if no then I will put it to you that most people from the so called civilised world do celebrate life after death by throwing lavish parties for friends and families, which is the same thing or even worse. The bottom line is all these issues are personal. On that note I hope that it shed some light as to why I came down heavily on karamba, and I also hope he will take things with rich vein and move on. masalam Koto >From: Ams Jallow <[log in to unmask]> >Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list ><[log in to unmask]> >To: [log in to unmask] >Subject: Re: Koto>>Re: The 'Serigne/Marabout" Concept >Date: Sat, 16 Mar 2002 08:15:56 EST > >Koto, I think, even though you understand and support the practice of this >concept, you're slightly missed the point karamba tried to insinuate here. >The true meaning and practice of Gamo [maulud Nabi], Ngenteh [christening >ceremony], Daijj [Funeral], hajj [going to and upon returning] and Sayy >[marriage/wedding], had been seriously corrupted and stained during the >past >decades, with material, status, class and or, financial gains in mind. I >fully remembered, the 60's and 70's Gamo days at 'Jakka Half-Die,' Anglesea >[Mbayen] and Dobson [Fayen] with true religious meaning and fervor: the >thief, hypocrites, beggarman, adulterer, etc., sit on the sidelines; >nowadays, these are the celebrated he/sheroes [PC]. The most appalling one >is >the moneymaking praise-singing at funerals, so disgusting. >What's your take? >Ams > >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > >To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L >Web interface >at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html >To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: >[log in to unmask] > >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ _________________________________________________________________ Chat with friends online, try MSN Messenger: http://messenger.msn.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~