I have attended two weddings this year. I believe this is a record for me though a rather pitiful one. They took place roughly 7,767 miles apart, which is a record I probably won’t ever break. One ceremony was for the marriage of one of my coworkers, the other was my Sister, Laura’s wedding.
Each ceremony was unique and also of course, influenced in some way by its own cultural history, but some wedding traditions are very similar even across continents and cultures.
I am often struck by how much formality there is in every kind of meeting and event in African culture and weddings are no exception. Though the ceremony began sharply 2 hours after the time on the invitation, this is normal and even expected and only considered odd by the Western people in attendance. It began with the arrival of Bride and Groom. The arrival is indeed part of the festivities as one beautifully decorated car picks up the bride and another gets the groom to bring them to the ceremony with much honking. Two months later while I was decorating Laura and Ryan’s car with crepe paper streamers during their reception, I longed for the nice thick ribbon used for the job in Malawi. However, the car decorating tradition in the States is really more of a prank played on the couple anyways instead of the formal display it is in African weddings.
All the guests were already inside with music and singing when the bride and groom arrived. Then the music for the processional began. It began slowly and as is typical with African weddings, both the guys and girls of the wedding party came in together doing this slow dance-like step. Then the music picked up and suddenly they faced each other and really got down into an entire dance routine midway up the aisle. As the Maid of Honor in my sister’s wedding, I was relieved that the only thing I had to do while walking down the aisle, was to not trip.
This wedding party performed four or five more dances at the reception that featured more lively music and a lot of hip action. Interestingly enough, Laura and Ryan’s wedding party also performed a dance at the reception, though a very different kind. That dance was an elegant English country dance, a waltz actually.
My opportunity to dance at the Congolese wedding came during the Perekaniperekani dance which means “give, give.” This is when guests come dancing up to the couple and throw (in this case Kwacha) bills at them. It is pretty cool. The MC would call up certain groups to come up. So, when he said, “Gilbert works at There is Hope. Where is There is Hope?!” I got up and danced with my coworkers and a handful of Kwacha.