Misa mu Rwanda: Ikiliziya

Muraho! Here I am again, with another update on life here in the land of a thousand hills. I wrote last time about my typical day here, and I mentioned that I go to church every Sunday. I thought I would write this time about the format of the church service, which is similar to that in the U.S., but also a little different.

First, I should say that I go to the Catholic Church (ikiliziya), which is called Saint Peter's. They have mass (misa) twice on Sunday, first at 7 AM (saa moya za mu gitondo) and again at 9 AM (saa tatu za mu gitondo). I've only ever gone to the 9 AM service so that I can have time to run in the morning and do my laundry before.

I stroll slowly to the church in the morning, greeting people I see along the way, maybe even meeting a fellow Trainee or one of our Rwandan teachers on the way. When I get to the church, I join the rest of the patrons outside, where we stand around waiting for the first service to finish and the bell to ring, signaling the beginning of the second service.

The church here in Nyanza is one of the oldest in Rwanda. It was built in 1935 because the king lived in Nyanza, and he was the first to embrace Catholicism. Although it's not as structurally impressive as European Cathedrals, it is still a nice church. It has large wooden doors on the front, and some smaller doors on each side. It also has some nice stained-glass window panels and some paintings depicting biblical events. It's made of brick, and is very open inside. All of the light is natural which gives a nice feel of nature inside the church. The pews are not nearly as comfortable as those I remember. They are just long wooden benches, four across, with three aisles. When we have to kneel, there is no nice padded cushion in front of us. Instead, we have to bend our knees and “kneel” on the bench in front of us. The first time I did it, it was very difficult, and I didn't think I would make it. Now, I've figured out a decent strategy, where I try to keep my weight forward a bit and take the pressure off my calves and kneecaps. Fortunately, there's not as much kneeling during the service as there is in the U.S.

The mass follows a format similar to that in the U.S. It begins with the pastor greeting the faithful, and then there are three readings from the Bible, including one from the Gospel. Then, the pastor gives his sermon, offerings are given, greetings of peace are exchanged (amahoro ya Cristu), the Lord's Prayer is said, and communion is taken.

Communion is the first thing that differs noticeably from what I remember. After the pastor talks about the bread being the Body of Christ, everyone claps and then bows their head. The same thing happens after he talks about the wine being the Blood of Christ. It's an interesting custom, and it adds a very thankful feel to the whole service. Also, during communion, parishioners do not go up to take communion (only bread is given) in an orderly fashion. Whoever is ready to take communion goes up and it doesn't matter if you're sitting in the front or the back, you just get in line and go when ready. I wasn't sure what to do at first, but I've gotten used to it.

Just after communion, there is a song that they play, where everyone sings and claps and some people do this neat dance where they sway back and forth and move their arms kind of like as if they had wings, but they move them more away from their body to the side and then back in again.

After communion, the service winds down. I'm not sure exactly what's said since the service is all in Kinyarwanda and I'm still learning, but I think they go through the following week and the Saints' days that are coming up. They also seem to go through community announcements which are relevant to the church. Of course, they can't give out a bulletin like churches at home because paper and printing is more expensive here.

After mass, everyone goes outside and mingles a bit. I usually see some other Trainees or our Rwandan teachers, and I sometimes run into members of my host family. Once every other week or so I end up going to one of the local bars/restaurants with some of our Rwandan teachers for lunch and more Kinyarwanda practice.

Of course, it is the Christmas Season here right now, and in particular the Advent Season (adiventi). They've put up some colorful fabric in the church, but they don't have a wreath with candles or anything, although I have been able to pick up that they talk about advent during the service. I'm not sure what kind of things will go on as Christmas approaches, but I'd imagine there will be numerous masses around Christmas. The one thing I would be surprised to see is a midnight mass, since even though the church has lights, it gets very dark here at night and the streets really empty out.

Well, I hope that helps give all of you a clearer picture of what mass is like here, whether you wanted it or not. Christmas is not far away, and I hope that everyone who's doing any traveling gets to where they're going safely. Also, I want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, as this will be my last post of 2010! Noheli nziza n'umwaka mushya mwiza!

Until next time,
Rwema (my Kinyarwandan name given to me by one of our Rwandan housemates. It means someone who you believe in and who is expected to accomplish great things, and it's usually given to a first born. I was honored to be given it. My host family also gave me a name, Ishimwe, which means joy or thanks and is usually used with “God” as in “Thanks be to God”, also a very nice name.)