Wedding 4/6/13

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to go to a Burundi wedding.  One of the cleaning ladies at school got married to a secondary school English teacher.  The French invitation said the civil union, or legal wedding document signing, was at 11am.  The wedding in the church was to be held at 2:30pm, and the reception afterwards at 5pm. 

A man named Peter recently moved to Gitega from the capital with his wife.  Peter recently got married in December, shortly before I came to Burundi.  Part of Peter's job is to schedule all the rides from school, town and the Children's home.  Peter has spent some time in England, and speaks English very well.  Peter was a big help to me during the wedding.  He explained to me that the family generally goes to the civil union, some people go to the church wedding, and everyone goes to the reception.  I had planned to go to the reception, but ended up going to the church wedding as well.

I once read about a man that showed up to an African wedding at 9am in the morning.  He had been waiting for a couple of hours when the groom rode up on the bicycle and greeted him.  Things didn't really happen until sometime that afternoon.

Did this wedding happen on time?  Nope.  But...TIA (This is Africa).  I was scheduled to leave home at 2pm, but my ride didn't show up until sometime after that.  Peter later explained to me that a man had fallen on his bicycle into a pile of stones near Peter's gate.  The man had a bad head wound, and a large gash in his arm.  So, Peter and one of the drivers loaded him into a truck, and drove him to the hospital.  Please pray for the man!  Burundi does not have the best equipment or knowledge for treating head traumas.

Once we arrived at the church, we waited for some time. Peter explained to me that typically, there is a dowry day before the wedding.  On dowry day, the couple and parents discuss and decide how much the husband pays the bride's parents for his wife.  I wish I could tell you what was decided for this wedding, but alas, that information is not shared.  Instead of a dowry day, the dowry meeting for this wedding  before the church ceremony, and it delayed the wedding.



For weddings, traditionally people wear envutanos, or a long skirt, a shash, and an under shirt.  I managed to find fabric with Ryan's help, and got an envutano made.  For the fabric and labor, it was less than $10.

Peter and his wife.

One of the wedding guests and her baby.

There aren't flowers for sale in the city where I live.
The flowers were probably brought from the capital.

When I entered the church, I was escorted to the front pew.  I don't like sitting near the front because I'm a muzungu (foreign), but I go with it.  Ryan didn't come, and all the other muzungus are out of town.  Since I was up front, I thought maybe I could get some good pictures for you and for the wedding party.



When the wedding started, the wedding party came to the front and sat down.  The wedding started at 4:30pm, about 2 1/2 hours after the time on the invitation.  There wasn't much of a grand entrance, marching down the aisle, and I don't remember standing for the bride's entrance.  The other staff members I sat with encouraged me to go up and take pictures.  There were other cameras and others taking videos, so I didn't feel it was necessary to go up front. I wouldn't go, so one of the other staff members went up to the front and took some pictures.  I'm not sure she has ever used a camera, so I tried to teach her a couple of things before she went.  There wasn't a time after the service to take pictures.

Once the wedding party was seated, they sung some worship songs.  There was a long sermon, wedding vows, exchanging of the rings, and the fastest exit of all the people out of a church that I've ever seen.  I didn't understand much.  I still don't speak or understand much of the Kirundi language.

We drove to the reception hall.  Peter told me there would be drinks.  I was expecting it to be a party, but it was more like a presentation.  Peter later explained to me it was a typical Christian wedding, and implied that's why there wasn't dancing or a party.

The wedding party was seated on the stage, guests of honor to the right and left of the stage, and everyone else in chairs seated on the floor.  Maybe you could guess what was next...there was Fanta, and there were speeches.  Two representatives of the families talked.  One promised free education for the children of the couple, and the other one promised the gift of a cow.  The Academic Dean of the school also gave a speech. 

Wedding party seated at the front of the reception hall.

Guests seated during the reception.

Seating for the wedding party.

Other ladies from school that clean.

 

The Academic Dean (left) and local Pastor (right).

There were two traditional dances.  I think to the wedding parties surprise, the second dance, the dancers went up and grabbed the wedding party.  Then, they came back down to the stage, and grabbed me!  So, there was some laughter as this muzungu tried to imitate the Burundi dances. The Academic Dean teased me and said,  "I would give you a B for your dancing."
At the end, guests quickly went up to the front, greeted the couple, and gave them wrapped gifts or cash.

For weddings in Burundi, there are often out of town guests.  After the reception, it's tradition for people to give the couple cooked food so they can host their out of town wedding guests.  I'm not sure that happened for this wedding, but it's something I thought was interesting.  So, at home I helped myself to boiled potatoes and avocados prepared by one of the cooks.