Tanzanian Wedding

Last Saturday I was privileged to be the guest at a wedding here in Dodoma- my first Tanzanian wedding! I had so much fun- and enjoyed seeing how the Tanzanians celebrate a wedding. It was fascinating to see how different it is from a traditional English wedding- and to see some of the similarities borrowed from Western cultures.

The Bride:
Our new neighbour on the MAF compound, Anna, comes from Somerset in England and works out here with SIL translating Bible texts. She has been in Tanzania for some years and speaks fluent Swahili (helpful if you are a translator!! :-)). She met her husband, Lukas, at work and they married in August in England, with her family and friends present for the special day. However, they then had a second wedding here in Tanzania, with the groom's family and friends.

The Groom:
Lukas is Tanzanian and comes from a village near Kondoa, about 3 hours drive from Dodoma. He also works with SIL and also does some work with "Safina" (see blog entry in February- working with street kids in Dodoma).

The Invitation:
In Tanzania. the guests first receive a preliminary invitation, with the names of the groom and the bride and the date of the wedding- but no details about venue/ times. On the card, a price is suggested for each guest to pay: 40,000 shillings for a couple, 25,000 shillings for a single guest. This helps to cover the cost for your drinks and food at the wedding.
If you would like to attend the wedding, you pay your dues and a note is taken of your name. Once the family have received your payment, you receive the official invitation with all details and times of the church and the Reception.
Esther shows Invitation Cards One and Two:

 The Church:
The invitation stated that the wedding would start at 3pm - although it seems that in Tazania, starting times of events can often be "flexible", so we weren't sure if it would really be 3pm or perhaps later! However, we arrived for 3 and the Swahili service did start soon afterwards. There were a few of us from the MAF compound:

 There was an initial introduction from the front by the presiding pastor and some singing and dancing for us all to join in, which was fun for Esther and Ben, before the groom's arrival was anounced. Rather than waiting at the front of the church for his bride to arrive by his side, the groom is escorted into church by a band of young people ( I suppose the equivlanet of our "page boys/ bridesmaids") all in matching outfits and made up of family members. They lead the way down the aisle with energetic singing and dancing, as the groom follows with his best man. Lukas is the one with the happy smile (!!) on the right hand side at the back:

 Once Lukas arrives at the front of the church, there are some more introductions and prayers while we wait for the bride to be escorted into the church. The all-singing/ all-dancing group of children exits the church in order to fetch and then accompany the bride. Anna arrives at the back door looking beautiful in her white dress- which has become a popular choice of wedding dress in Tanzania, borrowed fromWestern culture. However, she waits at the door while the pastor asks who gives her away to be married. There is a formal answer from family stating their agreement that they consent to give away the bride- and then the bride waits while her groom comes up to aisle to fetch her...

...but before he takes his bride and leads her down the aisle, he first lifts her veil at the back door and checks that he has the correct lady! He then states that this in the one he wishes to marry and only then do the bride and groom make their way to the front of the church for the wedding vows and service to continue.

During the service, there is a lot of singing and dancing from various groups or individulas for us to watch and enjoy:

We left after several musical presentations, as we had been in the church for over an hour and my children were getting very restless and a little noisy- all this before the talk or the vows! However, we had enjoyed the service to that point and then we slipped out the back and headed home- with Esther snapping this shot of Joel and of Mum in her new Tanzanian outfit made last week by a seamstress in town:

Later in the evening, I would attend the Evening Reception- but that is a whole new blog...!!