Coming of Age as a Saramaccan Woman

Besides going to church on Christmas Day, we also celebrated a Saramaccan coming of age ceremony. The 23-year-old girl is from Paramaribo but her family is from our village so they brought her here, to “Saamaka”, to pass this milestone. Keep in mind, our village is in an interesting in-between place. We have a lot of connections to Paramaribo, so people come and go to the city frequently. That access brings heavy influence from the west. Plus, we are a “church village”, so the missionaries erased a lot of Saramaccan tradition, too.  It is fascinating to see which traditions are still observed and which are not. All that is to say that this coming of age ceremony does not happen often in our village. This is only the second time that I have seen it and the first that I saw from start to finish. Another contributing factor is that almost all of our young girls move to the city to continue with school once they graduate from the 6th grade. Most of them do not come back, so we really have a generation gap.

Anyways, I am friends with this girl’s family, so they invited us to come. The girl seemed very sweet. We started out at the family’s house with about 50 family members and friends. The older women undressed the girl (yes, in front of everyone), then covered her back with koosus (the material that Saramaccan women wear around their waists like skirts) that they bought for her. They gave her jewelry, as well. Her mother and aunts gave her advice- take a good man, live well with him, have children, etc. There was Saramaccan singing (specific songs for this milestone) and lots of dancing. Soon they said it was time to go.

 Once I exited the overcrowded house, I discovered a percussion band waiting outside. This seemed promising! The family carried the girl’s loot in buckets on their heads so everyone could see. One of my friends placed a small bucket on my head which I pretty successfully carried hands free (yes, it was small and light but I’m still proud)! The group set off on a kind of trick-or-treating for koosus. We would dance up to each house in the village and the girl would come to the front and dance with the owner of the house until she received a koosu. Each time she got a new koosu, it was placed somewhere on her body until she had so many layers she was just a bundle of material! And all this in the middle of the day, in the beating sun. I told her later that I don’t know how she did not pass out from the heat! We were at it for hours. At the end, they danced and sang more at the final location but Ryan and I had dropped off the parade due to the heat and exhaustion.

Dancing with my friend Madjo for a koosu

Being given a koosu by my friend's husband, Gali

Dancing with me in front of our house for her koosu

Hugging after I gave her a koosu

It was really fun. Everyone was just so enthusiastic and fun-loving. I love drums and dancing AND the look on people’s faces when they see this white girl shake her hips. ;) It’s hilarious. They are always so shocked that I have some rhythm. I am really thankful to my friends for including us.