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Published: July 16th 2008
Mel
Check me out after putting on all these clothes.I know as soon as you read that title you thought I got married! LOL. Not quite 😊 But I did finally get the chance to check out a traditional Senegalese wedding. Social events like weddings and baptisms are HUGE here. Weddings typically last all day long and well into the night with festivities being held at several houses or even entire neighborhoods! Muslim couples generally have a brief ceremony at their local mosque and then another civil ceremony at the courthouse. I've written before about my friend, Awa. Her cousin recently got married and we went to the ceremony. Weddings are big business in Senegal. The women spend every lots of money to buy really beautiful, handmade fabric and have very elaborate dresses and head-wraps made. And getting dressed in traditional Senegalese clothing is quite a feat. The skirts, which are made out of a large piece of cloth, are particularly complicated and you have to wrap it around and around and around...and around again (You know I'm skinny so 3 yards of fabric goes around me A LOT of times!). After the skirt, there's a large, flowy shirt. Then after you have broken a sweat and are completely worn
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Don't I look pretty?! LOL. But I do love these colors together. out you have to tie this elaborate head wrap on your steaming hot head! By the time I finished getting dressed for the wedding I was too tired to go! But I drank a glass of water and rested for a minute and eventually made it to the party. Initially the party consists of a lot of sitting around and making small talk. The female relatives of the bride work in groups to prepare a large meal. Enough food has to be prepared to not only feed the family members, but also all of the people from the neighborhood who will drop by to see the bride and groom. Everyone sits under huge tents to eat and chit chat as they listen to music and watch Sabar dancing.
This wedding was more religious so there was no Sabar dancing and the entertainment was provided by the groom and his friends who sang different prayers throughout the evening. It was a really neat experience and even though I was sweltering in my traditional clothing, I was really thankful to be able take part in the fun.
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