Gypsy Soul: Life Lately.

Last week, English class in the morning started out with a visit to a religious site in St. Denis.

First we read a book about the customs of Hindu people. I'm interested in learning things about religious customs and practices, because it really gives you deeper insight into the culture of other groups of people. Identifying with something bigger than ourselves and searching for the meaning of life is a universal quest. I think the Hindu temples with all their bright colors and carved figures are just incredible. The only thing that I couldn't handle are the sacrifices...I saw pictures in that book that definitely gave me nighmares! Anyway, when we visited the temple, it was completely empty, which surprised me, because there are always people running in and out of churches. I kind of expected it to be like that.

You have to take off your shoes when you walk in.

I'm really curious about what the colors mean and why they are all standing the same. Since no one was around, it was so silent and kind of creepy. All these statues seemed to stare at us rather curiously.

I guess some ceremony took place here the night before, because there was some water at the alter and confetti and stuff. This is when I was attacked by ten thousand mosquitos. Luckily I always always always have bug spray with me. Those jerks just love my exotic blood.

Then we moved on to the Cathedral!

Mr. Pardon is obsessed with the Reunion obsession with this Saint, Saint Expedit. You can find shrines to him literally EVERYWHERE on this island, in the most random places. In walls on the road, crevices in the mountains, anywhere you can put a little red paint and a tiny statue of this man. As I understand it (as told to me by Mr. Pardon in English, so please excuse me for anything I might get wrong!) you pray to St. Expedit when you want something in your life. There are specific prayers for him which you can find in a book at any Catholic church. This book tells you what to say for situations like passing your driving test or wanting more money. Then you bargain with St. Expedit. Like, if you want more money, you promise him to stop smoking. Then you wait and pray. Once your miracle is given to you, you have to go tell him thanks. So you bring your last pack of cigarettes to one of his many shrines and say a prayer of thanks. If you fail to do this, bad things will happen to you. Also, he is apparently the only Saint you can ask to do something bad to someone you don't like. In Reunion, praying to Saint Expedit is not only a Catholic thing, but something people of all religions can do.

Next we moved on to the mosque. This mosque stands above everything in the city, and every day at noon and 6:30, their prayers are sung over a microphone so you can hear it wherever you are in St. Denis. I've always been curious to see the inside of it, but way too afraid to go in there alone!

When you first walk in, you take off your shoes and there are little basins everywhere. I am assuming you are supposed to wash your feet?

The prayer room.

And that was it! That was the whole mosque! There was a little shelf with some copies of the Koran, but other that that, there was nothing ornate or decorated like the Hindu temple.

Then, we visited the cemetery in St. Denis. It is truly the stuff horror movies are made of. Tons of unmarked graves, broken crosses and occasionally you will find a bag with a beheaded rooster in it, which can't mean anything good. There is no organization of any kind with the graves, it was kinda just a "lay down to rest wherever you can find some room" kind of thing.

No one cool is at the cemetery of St. Denis, so the day Richard and I threw our Halloween party, we visited a more famous cemetery in St. Paul, the one that has the grave of "La Buse," the eye patch-wearing pirate who was hung here in 1730 for being a pirate. Apparently he was buried standing up too, so he could never rest. While awaiting his execution, he is said to have written the whereabouts of his biggest treasure in code. At his hanging, he threw the code into the crowd and yelled "find my treasure, ye who understand it!" People have spent their whole lives on this island trying to find it.