I’ve been to (at least part of) two wedding celebrations here in My Country so far. I’d love to share lots about each of them with you, but that would take way too much typing for me and way too much reading for you. So let me just share briefly. Wedding 1 – Christian wedding At the end of March a couple from our church got married. The wedding was in the groom’s village, which meant that all 200 of us who wanted to go from church had to take the several hour trek out there. But the couple was gracious and paid for transportation and food for all of us and we were even able to sleep there (several of us stayed overnight two nights). If you were a fly on the wall . . . Oh wait, there weren’t walls. It took place outside in a tent. If you were a fly in the tent, you would have known that it was a wedding. The bride wore a white wedding dress and the groom wore a suit. There were “I do’s,” vows, a few sermons, several songs, etc. It was a lot like an American wedding. One big difference was that it lasted two hours. You’ll be glad to know that the bride and groom were sitting for most of that time, though. After the ceremony there was a reception where everyone was invited to eat. Presents were given and later that evening there was even dancing. I had a wonderful time. Wedding 2 – a non-Christian wedding Last week I was able to attend the wedding festivities of my Jula teacher’s sister for a few hours. My Jula teacher attends my church, but none of the rest of her family is Christian. From talking with my Jula teacher I learned that the celebrations lasted three days. I came in on Thursday, the last day. Everything else I know is from talking with my Jula teacher, not from actually observing it. On Tuesday morning the bride’s family helped her get all beautiful. Then she had to stay in one room in the house until Thursday. People could come and visit her and she changed her outfit multiple times a day to get to wear several different new outfits, but she wasn’t allowed to talk to anyone from Tuesday morning to Thursday. On Thursday she was made all beautiful again and lots of people came over to celebrate (but still not the groom or his family). There was a huge meal served at about 2:00, with dancing before and afterwards. I was there from about 2:00 until 6:30, so I got to eat the meal and participate in and watch the dancing. The bride still wasn’t allowed to talk while I was there. The women from the groom’s family came over to dance with us, and the men from the bride’s family went to the groom’s house to drink tea with the guys there. Sometime later Thursday evening, after I left, all the women at the bride’s house accompanied the bride to the groom’s house where they finally got to celebrate together. I didn’t hear anything about a ceremony, though. On Sunday, the bride went back to her family and there was more celebrating (without the groom again), but by Sunday evening the bride went back to the groom’s family to stay.
These two weddings were so very different. The two pictures on this post are the two brides. Can you tell which is which? When you get married (or when your kids get married), which would you prefer the wedding to be more like?
