January is the time for the traditional LUTTE of the Serer people in the coastal area of Sine Saloum, Senegal. The location for this three-day event was in the village center, under a huge tree. We came to see the first evening. As usual some ladies were singing the fighting songs to the rhythmic background of drumming.
At first the foreign bystander is shocked by the loud, powerful music and the display of masculine aggression and the "smell of testosterone" as one lady put it. It takes some time to get used to the noise and to understand the system of rituals, symbols, posing, dancing, and fighting. Men in grey training suits are the referees. Each fighter is registered and has to produce his bank-card-sized legitimation which is collcted by one referee who obviously is in charge of the book-keeping. Before the fight each competitor is body-checked and instructed. Several fights might be going on at the same time. Girls shriek when their boy-friends are fighting. Ticket sales, ushers, security, generating electricity, ... are well organized. Foreigners are treated politely and friendly. A young Frenchman was allowed to make a fool of himself: he took part in the preparatory dancing, looking like a wet white cloth compared to the black heroes beside him and eventually fought against one of them, - a little distant from the normal fighting circle. Within 5 seconds he was lying on his back.
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| a white guy circling the fighters in the preliminary phase |
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