Attaya: Senegalese Tea Ceremony

Last Friday night Kari and I had planned a relaxing evening with some girls in the building. We ordered pizza (yes, we can order pizza in Senegal) and got ready to watch an episode of my favourite TV show, Pushing Daisies. We had been looking forward to continuing the series, but we spent so much time chatting and catching up that by the time we started watching the episode we were only 10 minutes in when the power cut.

Power cuts are one of the first things you have to adjust to when you arrive in Senegal. Some families are fortunate enough to have generators to prevent the disappointment of an unfinished tv show, Pushing Daisies, for example. We are not so fortunate. It's a reality here and happens at any time; minutes before the first bell rings on a school day, during a unit test, walking home from a friend's house at 10pm, as you're preparing dinner, just as you are about to have a skype date with a friend or family member, or in the middle of the night. It's a fact of life that is unpreventable and easier to deal with the sooner you accept the reality. Rumour has it that the cuts will become increasingly long now that Ramad*n is finished. Kari and I have learned to keep our computers charged and often enjoy movies if the power cuts are in the evenings.

As disappointed as we were to be interrupted as we were just beginning our show, we were optimistic the power would come back on in a few minutes. No such luck. However, the evening turned out to be a great and educational experience nonetheless. Nabrissa stopped by and suggested we do attaya, a traditional Senegalese tea ceremony. It is a long process involving three rounds of preparing and serving tea in small glasses. The Senegalese are a very relational people and will spend hours preparing and partaking of attaya.

We all headed up to the roof for my first ever attaya experience. Danielle and Nabrissa started a fire with coal and paper in the fuurnu, a small coal fire pit. Once the coals were hot, Danielle heated water and sugar with the tea leaves, called warga in a small teapot, the brada.



The first round of attaya is called Lewel, it is strong and bitter, and symbolizes life. The second round, Naarel, is more sweet, and symbolizes friendship; the longer we're together the sweeter it becomes. The third round, Nettel, is the sweetest and represents love. Though this is how it was first explained to me, I have also read that all three rounds represent the growth and development of friendship.



Once the mix comes to a boil you remove it from the heat and begin a long process of pouring it back and forth between the small cups and the teapot. Each time your pour it back and forth it builds up a foam which you keep in the glass while you continue to pour the tea back and forth.



When the first round is ready it is served to the oldest person first and continues in descending order. I was fourth of eight this particular evening. The second round begins using the warga left in the pot with the addition of more sugar. The process continues as in the previous round and is repeated again for the last round.



Though the evening was not what I had planned, it proved to be better than I had anticipated. I love it when these things just "happen". In my opinion, the unexpected experiences in life are often the most enjoyable.