We Go to a Wedding

Today we attended a traditional African wedding. We left for the wedding at 11:30 and Sara’s mother (Sara is another trainee who lives near us) got into our Peace Corps kumbie (minivan) and directed us first to some relatives of hers who were bringing some food to the wedding. They lived on a farm and we me their old grandparents as well as the rest of the family.

Then we drove a long way to the wedding. It was in someone’s yard and a big tent had been set up for the guests of the bride and groom. We were not invited into the tent except to dance briefly as we left in front of the bride and groom. However, we were definitely part of the celebration.

The wedding was quite elaborate. First we sat around with a very loud sound system blaring out music. People danced and we were served bogobe and meat. Then the bride and groom and their attendants came dancing into the yard. The dance to their wedding tent took quite a while. The groom did not actually dance. He walked with a cane and I was told he had been injured in an accident. His bride walked in with him and them danced with another member of the wedding party.

The wedding party changed costumes three times and each costume was quite elaborate. Apparently the bride pays for all the costumes and it can cost a lot of money. They were quite beautiful and varied for each dance.

After the second bridal dance, we were served a big meal with lots of dishes to choose from.

The dancing is largely a kind of line dancing but folks can get up whenever there is music and dance. A couple of quite old folks days a lot during the day.

Peter, our language trainer, is quite a dancer as is Sarah’s mother. Her son said she is a party girl but very kind. David drew quite a crowed when he and Sarah’s mother started to dance. He let loose with the kind of dancing he and his sister Patricia often do (jitterbug) and he added a little Michael Jackson. The crowd really loved it and the guy who was filming the wedding insisted he do it over so he could get it on video.

Many of the men tended to sit in corners of the yard drinking and smoking marijuana. Some of them were annoying but for the most part we could brush them off. I can see why alcoholism is such a problem in SA.

We finally left after the third dance. We had been at the wedding about seven hours and even though we spent a lot of that time sitting, it was warm and we were very tired when we returned.