Well, we have been to many funerals in Africa but we had never been to a wedding. So, on Dec 20 we managed to get a wedding invite. Now, there are several phases to a wedding in Africa. I do not understand all of them. So, let me see if I can tell you a few things and hopefully it is accurate information.
At first the elders meet from both sides. The bride to be comes but is not allowed out of the car until the groom pays. It can be any fee that is ask. It might be N$10, N$50, N$100 or even cattle. Once this payment is made she can come out. This is called a “kitchen party”. They eat, set a wedding date and give advise.
The next can be 3, 2 or one phase. If it is 3, the first is eating and giving advise. The next is the wedding and it would be in a church followed by food. They have a line of cars driving all around town with balloons and honking horns. Many are in the backs of pickups so you can see what colors they are wearing. We have seen bright pink and white (for both the men and women), purple and black, red, white and black (this one was one Christmas eve day) and turquoise and black. The men’s shirts will be whatever bright color the sashes for the ladies dresses are.
Day three is the traditional African day. They celebrate in the village with more advise, more food and dancing. This is the day that we attended. To get to the village, we walked across the bush, then rode in the macolo (dug out canoe) and walked some more. I wore the traditional skirt and head wrap and, well, men can wear whatever.
We sat under tents with the ladies in the back sitting on the ground on mats and the men in front in chairs!!
Dancing with the ladies and baby Lorna. The bride and groom with Uncle Leonard.
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