Senegal holds festival that could draw millions

FE Team | Published: October 08, 2020 00:30:03

TOUBA, Oct 07 (New York Times): All roads to the holy city of Touba were bumper-to-bumper. Buses packed with pilgrims inched along, their roofs piled high with foam mattresses. Tollbooth attendants smiled in greeting and held out ungloved hands for change, all day long.
Many people wore masks. Many did not.
Huge throngs of people travelled in recent days to Touba, 120 miles west of Senegal's capital of Dakar, for West Africa's largest religious gathering - the Magal - which commemorates the exile of a Muslim spiritual leader.
It is expected to be one of the biggest events to be held anywhere in the world since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. In a typical year, as many as 4 million or 5 million attend the Magal, though no estimates were yet available this year.
The leader of the Mourides, the Muslim sect that organises the event, issued the annual call for pilgrims to come, despite the pandemic. The government of Senegal, which has been heaped with praise for its handling of the outbreak, did not try to ban it. And the levels of traffic suggested that most people were going ahead, despite the risks.
One of the beauties of the Magal, in normal years, is its emphasis on community and hospitality. Pilgrims do not book hotel rooms: Touba's residents open up their homes and travellers bed down, many to each room. Lunch and dinner, in the Senegalese tradition, are usually eaten off a communal plate.
"My family lives in Touba. I host a lot of people at home. That's why I couldn't stay in Dakar," said Serigne Diop, a 31-year-old mechanic who spoke by phone from Touba. He said he was surrounded by people not wearing masks and took an overcrowded bus from the capital to get there.
Many government ministers and dignitaries joined the pilgrimage too. The event is officially taking place on Tuesday but lasts about a week.