"...so you can't see each other the first time you sleep together"

"You know, chew rye! You use it when you get married so you can't see each other the first time you sleep together!"
"Wait, what? Seriously?"

Last night around 9pm an acquaintance from my neighborhood called to see if I wanted to hang out with him. Since most everyone in my household goes to sleep by around 9:30, a time that is way too early for me, I agreed.

He took me around the neighborhood, walking into different households unannounced to greet people briefly before moving onto a new house.

In a poor country where petty theft is not uncommon and my host family insists I put everything (from laptop to hairbrush) under lock and key, it seems a bit weird that nobody actually locks their front door. And what's more, nobody thinks it odd to have strangers walk in the house, unannounced and uninvited, after dark.

"Chew rye! Come on I'll show you."

"Umm... I like being able to see, thank you," I told him, a bit afraid this would turn into a hook up attempt and not entirely sure what kind of drug would take away my vision.

"Follow me," he said, leading me into yet another unlocked house. My fears mounted as we climbed the stairs and he opened a door.

"This is my room," he told me proudly.

Ahhh so we were in his house now. I lingered outside the door, not wanting to go in. After a few minutes of nodding as he pointed out the pictures of different lutteurs (or fighters) that lined his walls, he led me on to a different room where two women laid sprawled out on a bare mattress in front of a large bowl of burning charcoal. My friend introduced them as his sisters before explaining something to them in Wolof.

They giggled.

"So you don't know what chew rye is?" they asked. I wasn't sure I was ready to find out, but they were already stuffing thin, straw-colored needles into the charcoal and wafting the smoke towards me.
"Doesn't that smell good?" they crooned. I nodded, not entirely sure of my feelings. It smelled a bit pleasant but also a bit like burning plastic. The amount smoke produced was impressive.

... I sat on the couch and braced myself for what might come, but nothing ever did.
"How about this one? How does this one smell?"
The girls pushed something else into the charcoal, producing more smoke and another scent. This time it smelled pretty good. In fact, it smelled just like...

...incense! It clicked. Chew-rye isn't a drug at all, it's the Wolof word for incense! The reason it prevents newly weds from seeing each other is because of the smoke-- a fog machine effect.

I relaxed.

Then they were pulling out beaded belts of every color made from cheap plastic beads and thin elastic string.

"You put these around your waist and dance for your husband in the smoke," they told me, miming a bit of dance. "They're like body decorations. You can even wear them when you go out during the day, but you have to tuck them under your skirt or pull your shirt down over them like this." They showed me.

"But why would you want to hide such beautiful decorations?" I asked, wondering in reality why anyone would want to wear cheap plastic beads around their waists.

"Because," they informed me, "it's a private thing! Guys get really turned on when they smell the chew rye or see these beads, so you wouldn't want to wear them in public. They're just for your husband." They giggled.

Well, to each his own.