Wedding Pics

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I have gone to three weddings this month. Weddings are a big expense, because you feed everybody who comes. Usually a two day affair, Saturday at the home of the bride and Sunday at the home of the groom. People are there from morn to night, music is playing (DJ music) all that time, community members dance whenever, eat whenever, and somewhere in there they exchange vows.

Wedding A - of Mama B (Leah Bundu) the maintenance worker at Sele School. Her family home was over 2 hr. drive away. First they wore traditional clothes, bridesmaids in pink and blue, and bride in the red and black blanket. Later...this is SA time so l.a.t.e.r... they wore “western” clothes, bridesmaids in green, and bride in white. Earlier in the day someone brought our group some pap and chicken (and cold drink, of course, the large bottles of Coke, Fanta, etc.) Then in mid-afternoon was a buffet of rice, meat, and salads.

The groom’s family home is in Kameelpoort, where they celebrated the next day. I walked there and stayed for two hours; the previous day wore me out. I don’t know how the bridal party can survive these two day celebrations. Those shoes they have to wear....

Wedding B - of a neighbor in Kameelpoort 2 houses down from our house. I sat in the large garage area with the women. Men sit in a corner of the yard. (this is the norm, more rigidly followed in some places than others) Women brought in pap, chicken, and salad dishes and served everyone.* This ceremony was traditional isiNdebele and I only saw the bride, well, I saw someone wrapped up in a red and black blanket, but I couldn’t see any more of her. She walked into the garage with her attendant holding the umbrella, they kneeled down for a few minutes, and then went out.

Wedding C - of Kokie Legoabe, the math teacher at Sele School. Her family home was a little over an hour’s drive away. The groom’s home is in the same village, so they will move the tent from one house to the other the next day. The bridal party was dressed in “western” clothes, no traditional. But the format was the same.



* (about the food) I always have to say “ncani, ncani” the isiNdebele word for small, small. People are worried I will waste away, but I can only eat so much pap, or stamp (sp?). They are bland high carb foods of maize meal; you use your fingers to shape a portion (like cold thick cream of wheat)to pick up meat chunks and gravy. I eat it for lunch at school, it’s accompanied by beans, fish, or milk depending on the day. (sometimes they have cabbage or spinach too!) Shilpa and Andrew brought a jar of curry paste that gives the pap some kick, and I bought a spicy African garlic sauce.

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Photos

A: Traditional clothes - bride in red and black blanket
Wedding party doing "line dance moves"

C: Write your own caption!
Just happened that the groom had this expression... a universal wedding look

C: Under the tent (family, colleagues)
The woman at the center is our administrative assistant, a young woman who I enjoy getting to know.