A Wedding

I was delighted to receive an invitation to a village wedding. The small church was over-flowing with friends, family and well-wishers. The wedding party arrived together and came into the Church without ceremony through the side entrance. The bride with her Maid of Honour standing beside her read the first reading in English and then again in the local language. The Groom with his Best Man standing beside him read the second reading in English and repeated it in the local language. As the Church has no electricity a generator was used to power the microphone. The wedding ceremony was very much like ours, although there was no procession into or out of the Church. The Mass had much singing and dancing.  The person in blue in the photo above is conducting the congregation.  The person in the blue and white smock on the far left is conducting the choir.  The bride, groom and several wedding guests are dancing around the altar in this picture.

Following the Mass everyone either walked or drove over to the nearby Junior High School. As you can see in the picture we sat in a large circle outside. There were speeches and dancing, using the generator to power the microphone and play tmusic. People who brought gifts lined up at a table and wrote what they brought in a book. If money was given, the envelope was opened and the money was counted to verify the amount. Drinks and a meal of rice, beef and coleslaw were served to the guests. A group of ladies had cooked all night to prepare the meal. We left when the wedding reception was over although I heard the next day that the partygoers then went to the groom's village where they continued dancing all night.


I returned home to catch the end of a large wedding reception in the courtyard of the In-service Training Centre. It also had the gift recording table that I described earlier. This wedding reception was more elaborate than the one I attended and they had a wedding cake as well. The reception ended with the bride tossing her bouquet into the excited crowd.  I had breakfast with this couple the next morning and they told me that they were married at the Cathedral in Wa.  At their wedding there was a wedding procession, accompanied by traditional music played on drums.

Traditional weddings take place prior to a Church wedding.  The groom's parents visit the bride's parents to ask for her and pay a dowry.  If the couple has lived together for a few years the bride's parents visit the groom's parents and ask for the dowry.