The Wedding

The wedding celebrations started last Thursday with the stag and hen nights. These were the British contribution to the festivities. I don’t think they are part of the Eritrean culture but were due to the groom being a Brit. In fact Sami was one of our group of volunteers who came out last January. (A year ago the day in fact) He is the youngest of the seven of us and had we been asked at the time would have been chosen as the least likely to be married within the year. His bride, Helen, is a lovely Eritrean who worked in the same school as Sami in Segeneyti. The stag night was organised by Tom and consisted of a football match (with all the players wearing Spurs shirts, and one black glove in honour of Michael Jackson, Sami’s hero,), bowling, a meal, a bar and a nightclub, everything accompanied by bottles of spirits brought in duty free by Sami’s brother. The hen night was a much more civilized affair, we had a meal and drank a toast in fizzy water.

The wedding ceremony was in an Orthodox church in Asmara on Saturday and Sami and Helen were among four couples who were being married that morning at seven o’clock , at the same time rather than one after the other. The church ceremony was a very beautiful, moving experience. There was much ululating from the women as the couples arrived, all wearing traditional cloaks over the wedding dresses and suits. Ulualating is a way of giving vent to happy joyous feelings verbally, it’s a sound only made by women, and it’s very difficult to describe. (sort of a very high pitched lalalalalalala.) I joined my women friends and covered my head and removed my shoes to enter the church on the right hand side, although once the service started men and women moved around a bit. The church was a mass of white. The traditional clothes for the women is a long white dress (nuria) and a white headscarf (netsela). You see it all the time on the streets but for special occasions women wear very beautiful versions with coloured embroidery. A lot of chanting, drums, incense and very bright colours everywhere. The walls were covered in paintings and just before the actual marriage vows the brides and grooms were dressed in yet another cloak, this one of every imaginable sparkling colour. There was much chanting by the priests (there seemed to be one main man in charge and a lot of more minor ones.)After the vows there was a huge procession round the church led by the newly married couples and rhythmic drumming. Everyone followed slowly behind with loud ululation again.

Then photos, photos and more photos. Sami and Helen drove off with the immediate family for the traditional slow drive round the main streets of Asmara behind a truck carrying the man filming them. This is a very common sight around the streets of the city every weekend. I’m told they then went off for more photos in a picturesque setting. We however headed for breakfast and coffee.

There was a big party in the evening, much ululation (again) as the couple arrived at the hotel, and then traditional food (injera) and drink (miess and sewer) and dancing (this involves a lot of shoulder movement while keeping the rest of the body still, and slowly moving round in a circle. It’s good fun once you get into it.) It was all still happening at midnight.

It was a very good day. Traditionally there is visiting of the bride and groom and more ceremony on the Sunday. We’re having a day at home doing not very much at all.

We have weaver nests in the palm trees in the garden.

C