13169_9694_fire_class
This clip contains footage of a ritual including fire, and a marabout teaching the study of the Koran.Begins with a man dressed in a headdress and white pants dancing near an open flame. Cuts to a man with 6 hooks in his back swinging above a small fire; people watch behind him. A man with a metal contraption on his back, including 2 hooks in his skin, walks around. Cuts back to the man in white pants holding small torches and igniting a small burst of flames. A fire pit with hot coals sits in an open space, men dance and perform barrel rolls around it. CU of a man placing a flaming stick under his foot. Cuts to a man placing his foot on smoking logs. People from the village gather to watch. A fetishist witch doctor dances atop of the logs as a way to envision the children who will pass within the year; he stands on the top of the logs and dances. Other men dance around him. Cuts to the next day, a marabout cracks a whip. Students sit studying the Koran on slabs of rocks. The marabout picks up a boy by the arm and moves him across the room. CU of a boy reading from the slab. The marabout lifts one boys slab. Various CUs of the boy’s studying. One boy appears to be on the verge of falling asleep as he leans on his classmates, rocking back and forth. Cuts to the marabout mixing water, paste, and charcoal into a bowl. Older students sit around him with slabs of rocks. The marabout writes passages of the Koran on a rock slab, the ink is then washed with water into a bowl, then the water is sipped.