Tukar a large village in Senegal. Attached to the rural community of Ngayokhem, it is located in the area of the pre-colonial Kingdom of Sine, west of Senegal. The population is overrun by the Serers. As of 2006 to 2007, the population was estimated at 3000. Ndokh, which was a colony of Tukar, is now a separate village.
History
According to Serer tradition Tukar was founded by Lamane Jegan Joof. There are various versions of the tradition, but the basic story has a hero-migrant, Jegan Joof migrating from Lambaye looking for land to exploit. When he arrived at Tukar, it was nothing more than an inhospitable forest. In accordance with the complex land law system of the Serer people, he was the one who cleared the fields and founded Tukar. His paternal descendants reigned there for several centuries. In 1937, Biram Diouf, a descendant of Lamane Jegan Joof, was short of money and decided to pawn his family's estate to Waly Sene, the Jaraff of Tukar. The Joof family of Tukar almost lost their ancestral land. It took 50 years for a great-grandson of Biram Diouf called Djignak Diouf to eventually repay the descendants of Waly Sene and reclaimed his family's estate.
Etymology
The name Tukar consists of two Serer words: tuuk and kar-kar. According to Serer oral tradition, an adventurer by the name of Fassamane Thiaw paid a visit to Lamane Jegan Joof during the harvest season. Lamane Jegan Joof was to have a very good harvest of millet that year and Fassamane Thiaw is reported to have exclaimed, "Ooh, you're going have quite bit of millet!" The Lamane was so surprised he immediately replied: "Tuuk!" - which means "shut up!" in Serer language. He then ordered Fassamane Thiaw to say "kar-kar". This is said to be the origin of the name Tukar. According to historians, Lamane Jegan Joof had certainly been very shocked by the remark of Fassamane Thiaw about his promising harvest, but, above all, the bad spirits could be listening and decide to take revenge as a result of jealousy and introduce plague or locusts. This ancient superstition still prevails in Senegambia. The Serers and other ethnic groups of Senegambia forbid drawing attention to success or good fortune, because they fear that the bad spirits may become jealous and take revenge. If one mistakenly offers a compliment or comment on someone's good harvest, one is expected to quickly add kar-kar, to ward off bad luck.
Status
The foundation of Tukar by Jegan Joof is occasionally taught to young children at the local school of Kane Faye. In the Serer religiouscalendar, the Raan festival is held in Tukar once a year on the second Thursday after the new moon in April. The Pangool of Tukar of is Lunguñ Joof.
artist Angélique Dione's 2017 track Toukar pays homage to Tukar. The track has a salsavibe in which Angélique, who is a native of Tukar plays the guitar.
Community life
Founded in 1986, the Association of Peasants of Tukar is a rural association that promotes community cohesion and self-sufficiency. However in the mid-2000s, it had some difficulties and a new organization Bug Saax Of was born.
