AA/ Dakar/ Alioune Ndiaye
In Tivaouane, a city located 80 km from the Senegalese capital Dakar, the Mawled (celebration of the birth of the Prophet Mohamed – Peace and salvation upon him), commonly known as “Gamou” has resumed its rights after two years of interruption due to the Covid-19.
While last year several religious centers in the country had resumed the celebrations, the current Caliph Ababacar Mansour Sy had deemed it more appropriate to postpone the celebration for a second consecutive year.
Inevitably then, the celebration of the 2022 edition, which is held on October 8, is welcomed with joy and joy by the many disciples, very happy to return to the religious city, the main center of attraction for the Mawled.
Hundreds of thousands of followers have thus flocked from different corners of the country to experience this special year’s edition on more than one level.
*Ballet of politicians
“I have seen many celebrations, I only see this form of Mawled celebration in Senegal (…) We are going to multiply our efforts so that the religious hearth keeps all its spirituality and continues to inspire the millions of disciples”, said President Macky Sall who hosted Tivaouane on Thursday.
“The Mawled as celebrated in Tivaouane is a specificity”, noted President Sall.
Following him, the President of the National Assembly, Amadou Mame Diop, the Minister of the Interior, Félix Antoine Diome and several other authorities, made the trip to send their congratulations to Caliph Ababacar Mansour Sy and to ask for prayers for the peace.
Opposition leaders such as Khalifa Ababacar Sall, former mayor of Dakar, and Ousmane Sonko, president of the Pastef party, also made the trip.
*Back to the source for disciples
“Tivaouane is the source where we drink. These two years without ”Gamou” have been difficult. It is with great pleasure that I relive the fervor of the celebration,” noted Cheikh Ciss who joined the religious city from Kaolack.
“The ”wazifa” (group litany to glorify God and pray on the Prophet – a twice-daily obligation for the disciples) at the Serigne Babacar Sy Mosque in the presence of hundreds of other fellow students, the ”burda” (hymn in honor of the Prophet) not to mention the actual celebration tonight… Spiritually we were in need of these moments of devotion”, he continued.
The Mawled is indeed not the story of a single day. The ”burda” sessions start on the first day of rabi’ al-awwal (3rd month of the Muslim calendar) and continue until the 10th day of the same month.
“For the first ten nights of the month, it is the ”Qasîda Al-Burda” (poem of the coat written by Al Busîrî) which is declaimed at the rate of one chapter per night. Following which a discussion on religion and on the brotherhood is engaged”, explained Daouda Diop, a Dakarois who did not miss any of the nights of “burda” at the El Hadj Malick Sy mosque.
“With this recovery, the souls have been revivified”, he was ecstatic.
In the streets of the city crowded with people, the sounds of religious songs distilled here and there accompany the pilgrims moving between the mosques, some of which act as mausoleums for the emblematic figures of the ”Tarikha” (brotherhood) and the houses notables of the brotherhood.
*Gamou and Tivaouane, a 100-year-old tradition
The Mawlid is an opportunity to renew one’s loyalty but also to meditate at the mausoleum of El Hadj Malick Sy (1853 – 1922) who paved the way and made Tivaouane what it is today and on those of his sons who perpetuated the legacy such as Khalifa Ababacar Sy (1885-1927) and Abdoul Aziz Sy (1904-1997).
“He is my namesake and even beyond the ”Gamou”, I come quite often to meditate at his mausoleum”, noted Aziz Dieng, a forty-something from Rufisque.
“For the ”Gamou” of this year I came with the members of the ”dahira” (group of faithful). We took an 80-seater bus and two coaches with 35 seats each, to experience the event,” Diop explained, assuring that all means were deployed by the “dahira” for the two-day stay in the city. religious city.
At the front of the great mosque of Tivaouane in the process of rehabilitation for an estimated amount of 15 billion CFA francs (22.2 million USD) a huge tent unfolding over a length of more than 500 meters occupies the entire space.
This is where, in the depths of the night, the long-awaited event will take place under the direction of Caliph Ababacar Mansour Sy. Between panegyrics in honor of the Prophet in particular through the poem ”khilasu zahab” written by El Hadj Malick Sy and retracing the life of the Prophet of Islam and discussion revolving around religion, brotherhood but also behavior for a life in society in peace and cohesion, the faithful nostalgic for this moment will be served to satiety.
The celebration of ”Gamou” has been instituted in Tivaouane since 1902 by El Hadj Malick Sy. Other households have been celebrating it for several decades; this is particularly the case in Kaolack (centre) with Baye Niasse, in Touba with the ”mourides”, in Yoff with the ”layènes”.
At the ”khadres” brotherhood, the 7th day of birth is used to celebrate the Mawled, an event which sees thousands of pilgrims flock to Ndiassane, the capital of the brotherhood, a few kilometers away. from Tivaouane.
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