Two Tanzanian friends we’ve made, Anna and Marwa, got married and we were privileged to attend their wedding celebration, and what a celebration. It was to begin at 1pm, but didn’t start until 2pm. It lasted about 5 hours. It began with the couple being escorted by dancers into the pavilion.
After that, there was a period of people introducing other people. In between introductions, there was a lot of doing nothing, other than trying to talk to one another over the overly-loud music.
Once introductions were over, we then ate. The food consisted of rice, beans, fruit, and meat and meat broth. You ate all this by hand. Pop and beer were on the table to drink.
Champagne was popped, in this case, non-alcoholic, and toasts made. Then it was cake giving time. The cake was actually 3 separate cakes. Two of those were given to the mothers of the bride and groom. The third cake was then cut and pieces placed on a plate. The bride and groom then went around and with toothpicks, gave some others small pieces. For some reason, Pam and I were presented pieces twice, we haven’t figured out why, and no one seems to know why there is this ceremony in the first place.
After that, the gift giving began. The overly-loud MC would announce who was giving the gift and they would dance forward to the overly loud-music with their gift and present it to the couple and then dance away. This lasted quite awhile, with both gifts and money being given the couple. The MC would also announce it was ok for anyone to come forward and either give a gift or show their respect to the couple. I now believe there is a video of me prancing/dancing forward to greet the couple.
Then the actual dancing began. Now I think there is a video of both Pam and I doing the African equivalent of the chicken dance.
All in all it was a great time. Anna is the supervisor at Angel House and Marwa is the general contractor of the building projects, including the chicken house he and I are building.
TIA, Mark
No comments:
Post a Comment