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Last weekend I attended an Introduction. As I think I mentioned before it's a traditional ceremony that takes place before the wedding for the families of the bride and groom to be to meet each other. Well, let's just say it was a real Ugandan experience.
My roommate has known the groom for a while and he called he up about a week before the wedding and invited her and a friend. Lucky me! Little did we know that this invitation also meant we were a part of the groom's party. So on the day of the wedding we are supposed to meet the groom, let's call him S, at a roundabout outside of Kampala to get our
gomesis (as featured in my last post), dress and the head to the wedding. The first meeting time was at 10:30am but we were running a bit late because that morning was also the march to end torture. So we call up S and say we will be there around 11. "No worries," he says, " I still need to empty the trunk of suits and put in the goats." Right.
So we get to the roundabout at 11am and a few minutes later S rolls up in a car full of people with 2 goats in the trunk. We follow him to the house of the brother of the bride where we proceed to spend TWO HOURS sitting on couches waiting for the
gomesis to arrive. To make it better/worse (undecided) the entire time E! was playing on the TV and I got to watch: E! News, Pretty Wild, Leave it to Lamas and Kendra. All quality TV shows. I can only imagine what Ugandans must think of our society after watching any and all of the above. The time is about 1:30pm when the gomesis actually arrive. The introduction was supposed to start at 1pm. The groom is with us as is his entire party.
We go into one of the bedrooms where the wives of the brother of the bride help us get dressed. Needless to say by looking at the picture, I did not get to choose the pattern of my gomesi. As one friend has aptly put it, it looks like a Technicolor mumu. Essentially the gomesis goes on like a shirt and does up with 2 buttons on the top. The the excess material is folded (much like a sari) and held against you body while the belt is tied. The belt has cardboard in it to keep it looking stiff. My dream-coat is made of 5 meters of polyester. It was about 30 degrees that day.
After getting dressed we waiting another E! show (maybe Keeping up with the Kardashians?) before deciding instead to stand outside so the village children could laugh at us. On the other hand, every Ugandan I met said that I looked "very smart" which is the best compliment you get here. So around 3pm, after all the dowry (more about that later) had been loaded up into 3 pickups, the caravan gets a move on. Only to hit a major Kampala "jam". Our driver knows best (as always) and takes us screeching down the side roads, swerving around potholes in order to avoid most of the traffic. Surprisingly, he actually did know best and we have to sit on the side of the road for 20 minutes while everyone (who's driver's also knew best) catches up. Finally just after 4pm, we all roll into the village of the bride. THREE hours late. No big deal. Obviously S
had not seen Sex and the City 1.
We all walk in together and get seated under an orange tent. The bride's party is sitting under an identical tent opposite us with the other guests on the side. Both parties have a spokesmen who, for the next 2 hours lead up through the traditional Introduction ceremony which pretty much entails the groom's side trying to get the bride's side to admit they know him and know why he is there. The bring out 2 sets of aunties and some kids, the first of whom deny they know the groom. When they admit they know the groom, the bride then get to come out, then her sisters, her brothers and more aunties. It was all in Luganda so I don't know the full extent but every once in a while our spokesperson would explain what was happening to "S's Australian family". That's me.
At about hour 3 the entire groom's party had to leave the compound to bring in the dowry. I think technically it is actually a bride price because the man pays it to the woman's family. This included: 6 chickens, 2 goats, 1 cow, crates of
beer and soda, a full living room set (a table, rocking chair, 2 couches), sacks of flour and sugar, a picture of the King of Buganda as well as proof of donation to the Kingdom, 30 or so baskets filled with rice I think that we carried in on our heads and of course, cash. S said he actually got off quite easy. Sometimes families ask for as much as 20 cows (which equals thousands of dollars).
The whole ceremony took about 4 hours culminating in a rap artist coming out and preforming and then some of the best Ugandan food I have had to date. The best part was definitely the clothes -
gomesis are colourful and interesting if nothing else. The men were all dressed traditionally as well in kanzus which comprise of a suit with a full length shirt underneath. Apparently if you are not dressed properly, you look messy, you speak out of turn, you don't show proper respect to the elders etc etc the bride's family gets to fine you. Thankfully I got out fine free.
All in all it was a very interesting, if not long, day. I am now a proud owner of a
gomesis which I will have to find another opportunity to wear. Clubbing anyone?
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