It’s Thanksgiving week in the United States; (almost) no one will work on Thursday, many people won’t work on Friday, and (almost) everyone will feast. It’s a big week in Mali, as well: The fête de Ramadan, the end of carême.

The fête may be Tuesday or it may be Wednesday. We must wait for the Commission de la Lune to declare the date, because, like the start of Ramadan, the end depends on the moon. The lunar month is sometimes twenty-nine days, sometimes thirty. One can’t predict how long a given month will last; one must wait and see. So once again, appointed moon-watchers will be dispatched in Bamako, Sikasso, Gao, Kayes, and all over Mali. Someone will sight the new moon tonight and report it to the Commission, who will declare today the end of Ramadan, and tomorrow the fête. Or no one will sight it tonight, Ramadan will end tomorrow and the fête will be Wednesday. Celebrating on the “wrong” day in defiance of the Commission is considered civil disobedience and cause for arrest.

Until the fête is officially announced, everyone, Muslim or otherwise, must be flexible about their plans for the week. A lunch I planned with a woman from an American NGO was postponed; she was trying to cram in as many meetings as possible today, just in case the fête is tomorrow. E’s trip to Bougouni at the end of the week hinges on it, since the festivities tend to carry over into the following day.

Those who can afford it have bought a cow for the feast. Today I saw some boys trying to rope a steer in the road, in the very same spot I drove by that feisty one a couple weeks ago. This steer’s rear legs were bound together and from them led a long rope. The first boy yanked on that rope, pulling the steer’s hooves out from under it. The second boy ran up and looped a second rope around the horns. Then they tried to get it to stand again, whipping it and tugging its tail, but when I left the scene, that steer wasn’t going anywhere.

I saw several more cattle tied up along the road, dumbly awaiting slaughter, and one who had already made that mysterious and irreversible (and, some might say, premature, given that the Commission de la Lune has not spoken yet) transition from vache to boeuf. Three men butchered it where it lay limp in the dust. They flayed it and peeled the fat off its side, using a knife to loosen it where it clung to the flesh.

Our housekeeper Fanta won’t work the fête, nor will my French tutor Abdullaye. They both also asked to be paid early. They need to buy new clothes and shoes for their children, who will walk from house to house and give benedictions: May you live until the next Ramadan; may you be healthy until the next Ramadan. The adults give them each a few coins, and return the wish: May you grow big and see many Ramadans!

If the fête is tomorrow, then my birthday falls on the same day. The coincidence feels fortuitous. Just the same, I don't think we'll slaughter a cow.

And it's Thanksgiving on Thursday. If we'd wanted a turkey, we would have had to order a frozen, imported one from the commissary weeks ago. We'll have chicken instead. I may have bought one this morning. (I’m not exactly sure. There was a boy across the street with a couple (live) chickens lying at his feet. Moussa, the guardien for one of our neighbors, asked me if I wanted one. Not today, I said, but Thursday, I need a chicken. OK, he said. OK, I said -- and immediately started wondering who would kill it, pluck it, and clean it. I secretly hope Moussa forgets I ever wanted it.)

Ramadan trivia:

• Menstruating women are excused from fasting, as are nursing and pregnant women.


• A friend from Chechnya once pointed out that Ramadan is much more difficult in the summer months (when the days are longer) than in the winter months. Ever since then I’ve been wondering what happens when Ramadan coincides with the White Nights. Obviously, one mustn’t fast while the sun is up, if the sun is up for weeks at a time. But what does one do? The people I’ve asked say there isn't a problem because there aren’t any Muslims near the Arctic Circle. Finally, here is the answer. Also explained: Which way to face when praying on an airplane, and what times of day to pray when you are in Antarctica.

Totally unrelated to Ramadan: World's only known albino gorilla dies. I saw Copito de Nieve at the Barcelona Zoo in 1993.