Ethiopian Weddings

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While I (Ruta) was at the Red Cross Training Center for my first 8 days in Ethiopia, 2 weddings took place on the weekends. The first wedding was small, fairly Western with a bride in white, groom in a tux, and bridesmaids. As the bride and groom arrived to the center, they were stopped by singing and reveling friends. There was a main guy who led the singing - he would sing something and the friends would respond in song. Similar to Lithuanian customs in which the friends lay down sashes for the bride and groom to step over as they enter their new life together, the Ethiopian friends crouched down to the ground as the bride and groom went by. At the wedding dance, 80% of the men danced separately from the women. The Ethiopian music all has an underlying syncopated beat, and they dance by bopping their shoulders in many different ways. We marveled that they could dance so energetically for 4-5 hours straight.

The second wedding started at the training center on Saturday morning with a procession. The bride and groom were dressed in white with capes that had red embroidery. They wore white and gold crowns on their heads and were treated like royalty. Their bridal party wore beautiful gold silk clothes and another group of friends wore white gowns and headpieces that had crosses on them. One man in the group carried a huge 5 ft tall decorated African drum. He beat the drum with the constant music, singing, and dancing. I was able to get quite a few pictures of the couple, the friends, and the large banquet table. The banquet table was impressive, although the skinned sheep (or was it goat?) display dampened my appetite a bit.

I have some pretty pictures from the weddings, but I'll need to post them later.

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