{"id":5945,"date":"2018-12-17T11:15:23","date_gmt":"2018-12-17T11:15:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/?p=5945"},"modified":"2018-12-17T11:18:55","modified_gmt":"2018-12-17T11:18:55","slug":"2-weekends-and-2-weddings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/2018\/12\/17\/2-weekends-and-2-weddings\/","title":{"rendered":"2 Weekends and 2 Weddings"},"content":{"rendered":"

Our first 2 weekends in December were surrounded with weddings.\u00a0 The first one took us down to the southern part of Senegal to see a coworker and friend get married.<\/p>\n

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Helping in the back while waiting for the wedding to start<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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So thankful for all of Cecile’s training in food prep<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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The happy new couple<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This past weekend our host family’s adopted daughter did the first 2 step in her wedding which is a traditional ceremony at our host families house along with the official paperwork at the mayors office.\u00a0 Now all that is left for them is to save up enough for their church wedding, the final step in the marriage process.\u00a0 I spent the weekend out with my host mom helping her prepare for the festivities.\u00a0 We stayed up late and woke up early, but it was good to be there with them during this important time.<\/p>\n

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We were up late peeling onions, garlic and prepping meat<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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We woke up early to sweep up the yard<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Pluck chickens and cut 100 pounds of onions<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Many women came to help and the kids just all hung around<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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We prepared both lunch and dinner for all who would come<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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While the party started in full around 4 pm the bride didn’t show up until around 7pm<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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This made our pictures dark, but it was still great to be there to support her on this important day.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A few interesting information about weddings here…<\/p>\n

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  • While people are mostly free to marry who they would like, most of the wedding negotiations are between the 2 families and not the couple.<\/li>\n
  • Often the uncles on the father’s side are more important in negotiations than the fathers.<\/li>\n
  • The traditional ceremony, call the engagement party, the groom doesn’t show up at.\n

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    One would think those seats are for the bride a groom, but no they are for the bride and her witness<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li>\n
  • When speeches are given the oldest family member is always given the first chance to speak.\n

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    The oldest family member on our host dad’s side. He was hilarious!<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li>\n
  • All from the village who are of the same age as the bride or groom, play an important roll in the ceremony\n

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    All the members born the same year as the groom<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li>\n
  • Most people in different communities pool money together for gifts and contributions to the festivities.\u00a0 These are presented to the person from the wedding that they are most connected too.<\/li>\n
  • Cola nuts and mints are handed out for the festivities\n

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    Both of these are part of the bride gift and then are distributed to all the guests to enjoy<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li>\n
  • Don’t forget the dancing.\u00a0 Always an important part of any wedding\"\"<\/li>\n
  • The kitchen or food prep station is usually set up right next door.\u00a0 Cooking over a fire makes finding a place to cook much easier.\n
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    A little open space is all that is needed<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    Don’t forget the cooks, part of arrival is taking time to make it back and greet the cooks!\u00a0 I love that they are not forgotten<\/p>\n

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    At some point the cooks all come out to dance and celebrate a little as well<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Our first 2 weekends in December were surrounded with weddings.\u00a0 The first one took us down to the southern part of Senegal to see a coworker and friend get married. This past weekend our host family’s adopted daughter did the first 2 step in her wedding which is a traditional ceremony at our host families […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":830,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2545],"tags":[448],"class_list":["post-5945","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-updates-and-news","tag-ethnos360","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5945","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/830"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5945"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5945\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5945"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5945"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5945"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}