Good Friday/Easter, 2002
Tawatana, Makira Province, Solomon Islands
Friday the community did the 14 Stations of the Cross. It's a mobile pageant that goes all over the village; at each station, there's somebody playing the part of a disciple, Simon of Cyrene, Mary, or Pontius Pilate. They give their thoughts, and everybody else walks along and sings hymns. I was doing the two stations of toilet and bed that day, so I didn't go. Andy had a part as one of the disciples, so he did the whole thing and so did Libby. The boys joined up about halfway through, when it went past our house. Jake was pretty upset when they "nailed" Jesus to the cross.
Sunday was a communion service, which takes a long time because they sing the whole liturgy and everybody goes to the front to receive Communion. I like it, now that I’m more used to it. The musical setting for the communion liturgy is really beautiful.
It helps that the kids are older now, too. They have learned how to sit for a long time. And play with the gravel on the floor. Quietly. When Michael was little, he figured that everybody had come to church to look at him (which was pretty much the case). He was such a terrible ham at church that I quit taking him at all.
After church we had a feast followed by "entertainment”. I say "entertainment" because it doesn't entertain us all that much. Somehow, we really miss the boat when it comes to their sense of humor. Or, there's some body of knowledge that is a closed book to us. Because we just don't get it.
The funniest thing to us was a whole group of ladies, our close neighbors and leaders of the church women's group, who dressed up in men's clothes (women here DO NOT wear pants), including sunglasses, boots, and construction helmets. They looked hilarious. I got that part. But then came the inscrutable part. They pretended to be paddling a canoe to Malaita. Everyone was roaring with laughter and we were mystified. Why was it funny to paddle a canoe to Malaita?
Go figure.
What is 31 Days of 2002? Read about it here.