On nights when Salome could not start her fire, Aunt Suha would tell stories of the night and its spirits. As a child, Aunt Suha had been mesmerized by the stories she heard around the campfires. Her grandfather had been a griot. She had wanted to follow in his footsteps, for then, she hoped, marriage would not find her so fast. But she was prevented: women did not become griots. But the nights were also a time when the boundaries between the worlds of spirits and humans blurred, when the human’s double left its physical abode in a dream. One such night, she encountered the spirit of her griot ancestor. The next day, she received the gift which transported her to the world of the spirits. ‘To be a griot is to be given a gift. It is something spiritual – it comes from the spirits.’ Still, marriage found her. At thirteen, Aunt Suha had a night-time encounter of a different sort, with another ancestor-type. This, the second, was an encounter Aunt Suha did not like talking about. For it was on that night her life was taken. Instead she preferred to concern herself with the spirits. ‘When I listen to the night, I hear the spirits talking to me.’ So, on those nights when Salome could not start her fire, the djinns would show up: in stories of death, trances and dreams told on the edge of night. But because the things from the night-time encounter of another type were still there, there was no way Aunt Suha could ignore them. Their bitter residue would be tasted in the bitter seeds she would sow in Salome on nights the spirit of a dead warrior queen would talk to her.
Posted on: Sat, 08 Jun 2013 14:15:11 +0000