A couple months ago my house worker said she was going to get married. When the time came to make the formal announcement she gave us missionaries bon bon or candies instead of the traditional cola nuts, since she knew we wouldn't eat them.
The day of the wedding Elianna, I another lady and her daughter went into the village to help prepare food for the wedding. Elianna showed no fear in going right up to the ladies pounding. They got a good kick out of it as well.
They let her try for a minute.Eli and another girl also intently watched them butcher a chicken. My friend and I got to cut up eggplant, onions and garlic oh, and yes try to open a large tin can with only a paring knife. We called on one of the Guineans that we know to assist us!
The actual wedding takes place at night.Pete and I went to the wedding around 8:15 which is what my house worker told us to do. They have all their weddings at night. They hook up a generater, have a d.j. and a soiree/party, it usually lasts all night often till 7am. I really wanted to see the bride come out and this hammock dance that they do. At one point they said there was a hold up because the brides older sister wasn't married yet so she needed to be paid money. Pete left about 10:30 since we had someone watching the kids. I stayed with a couple other missionary ladies till the bride came somewhere after 11. It's amazing to watch these people dance, especially the women, some which you might think can't move like that. They have a group of men with tom tom's or bongo style drums and whistles. The whistles are really annoying!:) I came home right around midnight. It's so interesting to see part of their culture. Kids of all ages up at all hours of the night. A missionary friend said they really do "live at night."
Here the bride is carried in a hammock underneath this canopy by four men. They dance with her like that for quite a while before they put her down.
4 comments:
Faith,
I just looked at the wedding, nincong & roof updates. Thanks for the time you put into updating the blog. Also, the culture lesson. Love, Mom
sounds like a lot of fun...humorous about having to pay the older sister...reminds me of rachel/leah in the Bible.
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Hi Faith, I sure enjoyed the post about your house helpers wedding. It sure is not like American weddings. Speaking of weddings, Alayna and her boyfriend Rick are planning on getting married in a few weeks, May 16, the day before their college graduations. It was a surprise to us but we are very happy for them. After graduation we will be heading for WA state. They are heading to Arizona, Alayna for grad school at Uniz. of AZ in Tuscon. Love, Aunt Sue
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