So last weekend, Ashley and I experienced our first Muslim wedding. One of the girl's here that we've become close with invited us to her wedding awhile back, so needless to say we were really excited to experience all the different festivities. We bought some fancy fabric and had some shalwars made by this tailor in our neighborhood. About $3.50 later (haha I love South Asia), we had a sweet outfit to wear to the Mehndi function.
Day One: The Mehndi function was Thursday night. We got all dressed in our fancy shalwars and headed for our friend's house. Decked out in bangles, sequins and ridiculously gaudy high heel shoes, we made quite the scene walking down our dirt road. We were running a little late, but not to worry, this is South Asia, so no one was ready in the bride's house either. The bride came out and looked absolutely beautiful in a turquoise dress. More family began to arrive and the next thing we knew we were being ushered out the door and down the road to the local school where the Mehndi function was being held. This night was thrown by the brides family. A little bit later, the bride walked in and was seated on a chair up front. She had a lovely backdrop of a red fabric with really tacky Christmas lights hanging around it. :) The grooms family came in later bringing gifts of fruit and little goodies. We then all sat around in circles, with a large platter of rice, chicken, veggies, curry, and chilies. No plates. No utensils. Just diving right in and all sharing the same "plate". (I also sat next to this presh old lady who asked me if I was from Pakistan...like I said, she was old so I'm guessing she couldn't see all that well). Of course the night wasn't finished until we had henna put on, taken a million pics with the bride and her friends, and there was a power outage.
Day 2: Friday night was the wedding! The lady that we live with helped us by letting us borrow her sari's to wear. (And helping us get dressed...). We were told to be at their house at 6:00 sharp. So at about 7:30, the family was finally ready to go. :) The bride and her sisters and mom had already left, so we rode with the aunts and uncles. Twenty-three south asians and two white girls, piled into a twelve passenger van and rode for about an hour into the city, and then walked into the wedding. The bride walked in, looking down the whole time, being escorted by her sisters. She is supposed to look sad due to the fact that she was leaving her family. Then the groom came in. He presented her with a gold necklace (kind of equivalent to our exchanging of the rings), they drank a cup of tea, and then the millions of photographs commenced. We all ate dinner (this time we had our own plates) and then the men began dancing. This was interesting and terrifying all at the same time. The bride and groom shared a romantic dance to Usher's "Yeah" and then silly string, and glitter were shot everywhere. At the end of the night, all twenty-five of us piled back in the van. Made it home where everyone, including the bride, all hung out for awhile. (This is also where they shoved numerous different sweet items in your face. However, s.a. desserts are not like normal desserts. One of the strangest one's is this thing called konji. The only way to describe it is Flubber. Yes. That dumb movie with robin williams, and green goobs....that's what it is.)
Day One: The Mehndi function was Thursday night. We got all dressed in our fancy shalwars and headed for our friend's house. Decked out in bangles, sequins and ridiculously gaudy high heel shoes, we made quite the scene walking down our dirt road. We were running a little late, but not to worry, this is South Asia, so no one was ready in the bride's house either. The bride came out and looked absolutely beautiful in a turquoise dress. More family began to arrive and the next thing we knew we were being ushered out the door and down the road to the local school where the Mehndi function was being held. This night was thrown by the brides family. A little bit later, the bride walked in and was seated on a chair up front. She had a lovely backdrop of a red fabric with really tacky Christmas lights hanging around it. :) The grooms family came in later bringing gifts of fruit and little goodies. We then all sat around in circles, with a large platter of rice, chicken, veggies, curry, and chilies. No plates. No utensils. Just diving right in and all sharing the same "plate". (I also sat next to this presh old lady who asked me if I was from Pakistan...like I said, she was old so I'm guessing she couldn't see all that well). Of course the night wasn't finished until we had henna put on, taken a million pics with the bride and her friends, and there was a power outage.
Day 3 is a no go....since we didn't realize that it was actually a four day event. SO MOVING ON....
Day 4: This was by far my favorite day. Sunday evening, we were told to come over for dinner. It was the homecoming party. We had no idea what a big deal this day was. First of all, this is where the bride actually moves into the grooms house. She becomes a part of his family and in this culture, the groom's mother typically lives with them. Second of all, we were the only people that went to this event that weren't a part of the family. So we traveled to the grooms house (yes yes..in the van again), and we got there and sat on the floor. We watched the mother in law play a prank on the groom and his new bride and then walked upstairs onto the roof of the apartment complex where we had dinner by moonlight. Girls sat with girls, the guys sat with guys. This was a such a fun and laid back day. At one point, I teared up a little when they were taking more photos. The bride had her whole family up there with her and the groom and she looked around and said "Megan, Ashley come on! Family Photo!" It's times like this that make me say 'wow, this is my life and I live here. Thank you Father for this wonderful, wonderful family'. At the end of the evening, they brought up her suitcases, and she cried as she said goodbye to us and her family.
Please join me and Ash as we lift up this wonderful family. They don't know the truth. We love them dearly and have shared with them a couple different times. We desperately want them to know our Father like we know Him.
Sounds like you're making awesome connections!
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