wedding

A colourful, excited array of people have congregted outside a home on the main drag of Sidwari Village, home of our camp. Curiousity gets the better of me and ask what they are waiting for. "they re coming soon Miss, wait with us you will see". A brightly decorated suzuki car comes round the corner carrying bride, groom and mother in law. "you join us Miss, you take snaps Miss" Before we know it we are included in a traditional wedding ceremony. A decorated bus arrives, it is carrying more family and guests and a brass band! It is day 2 of a four day ceremony. We meet siblings of bride and groom and they explain what is going on. The groom emerges from the car first. He is draped in a purchased sash of money notes. Underneath this sash many real notes of money have been pinned to his clothes. He is probably aged 30s and works at a school. His bride won't get out of the car. Her head is down. She looks frightened and tiny. A band like a marching band plays loud music, drums, trumpets and horns, they make quite a racquet! We are talking to many different guests who have a sprinkling of English. They explain that the couple have only just met for this arranged occasion. The guests are beautifully dressed. Eventually a group of women go the car and coax, pull, push the little bride out. She is wearing red and is adourned in a heavy string of coconuts as is her mother-in-law. Mostly her face covered in a red scarf. They make they way down to the entrance of the brides home, the music gets louder. Food appears! They have been partying here for two days, we could hear the music last night from our camp but didn't realise what it was. On the fourth day they will move to the groom's family home for a celebration. This will become a day of wailng as the bride is leaving her family for the final time and moving to his home. We are so blessed to be immersed and included in this rich culture and are learning so much.