A harmony between tradition and modernity
The beauty of Mayotte lies in the harmonious cohabitation of habits borrowed from recent westernization and the preservation of age-old traditions. It is therefore not surprising to see Mahoran women dressing in a western way and the next day wearing with great pride the salouva (a colourful fabric) and the m'dzindzano (their beauty mask), all without any paradox. The vast majority of the Mahorais celebrate Ramadan, do their pre-wedding shopping in Dubai, go on a pilgrimage to Mecca and celebrate more and more Christmas with Santa Claus and all his pretty presents. Shimaoré is spoken with family, friends and in taxis, but French is automatically spoken with the M'zungus. We continue to go to the fundi (the one who knows) to cure our child with prayers or herbs, and then we end up with the M'zungu general practitioner who has completed his studies in Metropolitan France. There are still many people on the roadside, like farmers with their tchombos, small working swords, coming out of a cassava field. Children play with old tires, race or play with rainwater once they have abandoned their mobile phones and televisions. Zebus, goats and sheep graze along the roads... No superficiality on Mayotte, everything is real and authentic.
A collective life that goes beyond individuality
Deeply rooted in the African and Malagasy mentality of the inhabitants, the clan or brotherhood spirit is the first marker of the social structure of the inhabitants. Mutual aid, or musada, is still very present. The Mahorais are always attached to their family, their clan and their village before developing any identity at the level of a nation, an island. Until recently, the family was based on the lineage and included not only the biological parents and their offspring, but above all the grandparents, uncles, aunts, nephews, cousins and grandchildren. Like the rural society from which it originated, the rigid hierarchy made the dean the head of the family. However, the changes that have taken place over the last twenty years, the demographic explosion as well as the strong monetarisation of the economy and the implementation of common law have imploded the traditional model. Thus, the young Mahorais who have had the chance to go to school are trying to erase the rigidities and create a new model combining local traditions with the Western way of life.
Education in motion
Mayotte is a vice-rectorate dependent on the academy of Reunion. The first high school in Mayotte was built in 1976. It was built just after the referendum. Today, there are eleven high schools, including three vocational ones and an agricultural high school (Coconi), as well as eighteen secondary schools and several nursery schools, and today, concrete is being built in droves to catch up with the educational backlog and to be able to accommodate all these young people. More and more young Mahorais are continuing their education after secondary school, which was not the case until recently. Secondary education is provided by civil servant teachers, the majority of whom come from Metropolitan France, but in recent years there has been a dearth of teachers with tenure, and recruitment at the local level is increasing. In Dembéni, the Centre Universitaire de Mayotte has been open since 2011 and offers a number of courses in partnership with various universities in mainland France, some of them up to Masters level. It should be noted that in parallel to this republican and secular school, the young Mahorais go every morning from dawn to the Koranic school to learn the Koran and the five pillars of Islam.
The place of women
In Mayotte, the family is said to be matrilineal, which means that property is passed on from mother to daughter, particularly with regard to the house. In the traditional family, the woman is responsible for the management of the family budget and the education of the children. She is responsible for the health and behaviour of every member of the family. Similarly, the house built by her father and brothers belongs to her. This is why the man, while being the head of the family, has a very small place in it. He was obliged to hand over the house in case of conflict or divorce. Now, instead of just looking after the house and children, women generally had a job so that they could contribute to the family income. The women of Mauritania were a real force, united and supportive, determined and rock-solid. For example, they played a very important role in Mayotte's decision to remain French. It was the time of the "commando des chatouilleuses", in 1976. Since then, they have been involved in all areas of economic and public life. Even during strikes or demonstrations, it is common to see women in the front row and even if, in politics, they are rarely seen, everyone knows that they are not far away to watch and monitor.
Legendary weddings
The months of July and August are known in Mayotte, not as summer but as the season of big weddings. Families return from Metropolitan France or Reunion to attend these ceremonies which take place over several days. Here it is the girl's family that has to take care of building and furnishing the house of the future bride, while the man prepares the "suitcase" containing clothes, fabric, jewellery... that he will offer to his wife, as well as a large sum of money that he will bring as dowry. The dowry is based on the social importance of the groom's family and is a minimum of 1,500 euros, but it can be much more, depending on the family's means, such as 2 times or 5 times more, or even 50 times more. Just after the engagement, the Grand Wedding begins. It is particularly pompous and ostentatious and confers on the one who performs it the status of a notable. The woman must not leave her house for a whole week (sometimes a month). Guests visit her every day of that week (at a cost to the husband's guests!). The bride is made up and pampered on her bed. The mask must be different every day, the jewels worn, the clothes changed regularly in order to be admired by the people of the village or the families. Then comes the procession of the husband and the men of the village towards the house of his wife, dressed in his beautiful golden clothes, before the religious marriage which takes place at the cadi.
The banga tradition
On the outskirts of the villages, the concrete or plastered houses give way to tin and earth huts perched on the slopes. Often considered as illegal housing, some of them are bangas built by the village teenagers. Indeed, the tradition wants the young boy who has become an adolescent to affirm his independence and his passage to adulthood by leaving the family nest. He then builds his own house, often with the support of the young people of the village, his brothers and cousins and his father, essentially out of natural materials, to live there alone. The structure is made of wood, covered either with earth-based mortar (mixed with feet!) or with woven coconut leaves, and topped with a coconut thatch roof. Often very small, the bangas are a place of intimacy to receive friends and first love relationships, while meals are always done in the family house with the rest of the family. The teenager will stay there until his marriage when he will join his wife's family house. The banga phenomenon reached its peak in the 1980s when young people were very inventive in having the most beautiful and personalized banga, some even had electricity. With time, the metal sheet replaced the earth and today the tradition is lost and less and less young people accept to leave the cocoon so early, the security problems not helping. However, several associations are working to maintain the know-how and to modernize the buildings by adding, for example, windows and floors.
The beauty mask
An indisputable symbol of the perfumed island, the visitor cannot remain insensitive to this mask worn by the women, often as a complement to the pretty colored salouvas. Called "m'sindzano" in Shimaoré, the word actually refers to the sandalwood used to make it. It is also worn in the Comoros, in western Madagascar (Sakalaves) and by the Makas of Mozambique. This very ancient practice has several functions: it protects the skin from the sun, it creates a protective layer against mosquitoes, it smoothes the skin by removing surface impurities and when removed, it gives the woman a natural perfume. To make your m'sindzano, you need a mask table made from solid coral. This table can weigh up to 3 or 4 kg! But, despite its fragility, it remains the basic tool for making the preparation that will be applied to the face. It is the fine grain of the coral that makes it possible to obtain a fluid sandalwood powder. By rubbing the sandalwood on the coral table and adding water little by little, a paste is obtained that is easily applied to the face. One can then use powdered leaves or flowers to give colour to the mask, varying between red, yellow and white. Numerous decorations can be made by make-up artists using a coconut stalk: astronomical motifs (sun, moon, star), floral, geometric... which adorn the cheeks and forehead. There are types of masks for all occasions: the daily mask, the care mask and the party mask. It's up to you to try it out!
