Dancers at the Easter Vigil

The Easter vigil was celebrated with great style here in Malakal. There were approximately two hundred baptisms and confirmations in our parish church and four hundred in the cathedral. There were energetic liturgical dancers and much singing with great rhythm and energy. The church was crammed and there were several hundred more people on seats outside the church with some still standing.  

I entered the church at 6:45am and perspired my way through the next three hours. Was that the conclusion? No we had not yet reached the offertory and the lines of those being baptised and the confirmees still filled the centre aisle. The offertory would not come for another hour. Mercifully by 9:45pm it had become a little cooler and my shirt began to dry out! The ceremony concluded at 11:50am.

 At the Easter vigil, we had all seven readings, not a reduced number as is common in Western countries. I could understand some references, ‘Ibrahim’, ‘Isaac’, ‘hojanna’ and the like but it was not helpful to me that Arabic was used for the entire duration of the service. As it was, I focussed on surviving but the people seemed to thrive and, at times, come fully alive. 

There were some girls doing a liturgical dance – aged about sixteen. I found myself thinking what was it like for them growing up to age eleven in a war zone. How have they found the last five years? 

Here the people welcome us as ‘kawadjas’ who are willing to journey with them. The women, in their distinctively coloured laos (pronounced as in ‘loud’ without the ‘d’), form a phalanx of formidable church wardens, an obviously bonded group who set about their task of keeping order cheerfully and resolutely. 

The women wardens do not hesitate to tell children and, indeed, many older people, what to do. I found myself thinking, ‘collective mothering’. In this society, every child learns to accept every mature woman as a surrogate mother. At one stage before mass, I was posted by one, I think, as I was instructed in Arabic, to guard the door – at which I confess to being a total failure as so many people seemed to be exempt from the exclusion provisions!  

During this religious marathon, children were denied permission by the women wardens to exit during the ceremonies. I would have to say the young bladders, assisted by the high perspiration index, survived very well! The children were very well behaved. 

We are only six days away from the elections. I am pleased to report that the atmosphere here has been remarkably calm. Many NGOs are leaving town but the UN workers will be here. Arab traders have been told to leave town but we are staying. We have many friends in the local community including the 70 teachers who have just completed this part of our teacher training courses. We have three armies around us, but they know who we are. All of those people, who crowded into Church with us for five hours, know who we are and accord us a respect that at times is almost embarrassing.

I have been teaching our grounds man, Emmanuel, a former soldier, to drive. I rejoice that I now open the gate for him to drive the vehicle into our compound whereas he has opened it, so many times, for me. These are people of quiet dignity but great disadvantage in material terms; but in spiritual terms there is vibrant love, strong faith and real optimism. Those of us who are here enjoy the privilege of sharing their desire for enduring peace. We can learn a lot from them. Let us hope and pray that commercialism, greed, lust for material goods and power do not destroy this society where good order and spiritual values presently prevail.          

 Br Bill