Partying with the locals

Last weekend Daniel and I got to see how the locals really party. Our language tutor wants to teach us about different aspects of culture as well as the language so he asked us to go to one of his cousins' weddings. We went to his house to pick him up along with his mom and three sisters. We packed in the car and drove to catch up with the wedding party driving to the reception location and of course we joined in on the car honking, the waving out the windows and yelling as we followed the head car carrying the bride and groom.

Once at the reception location (all weddings are basically a reception, they actually get married in a small ceremony earlier), we watched the bride and groom get out of the car while some musicians played traditional music and drums and the groom's friends danced. They eventually pulled in the groom and the groom's mother and sisters while giant sparklers went off. Then, our tutor's mom and sisters pulled me up the stairs ahead of the bride and groom to the women's room for the celebration. This was, after all, a traditional Muslim wedding and the men and women party separately.

Here are my observations of the wedding ceremony on the women's side:

-Once the women were alone in their respected celebration room, the head coverings and long black dress coverings came off to reveal some seriously fancy dresses and hair-do's. There were sequins, beads, glitter, and tons and tons of hairspray.

-The room was filled with women and children of all ages, all decked out for the big event. Even though the crowd was quite varied, they seemed to all enjoy the same music that blared out through the room all night - a techno-belly-dancing-arabic-style of music.

-The women really know how to have a good time. Everyone spent the entire time on the dance floor, old and young alike. Unfortunately, I haven't quite gotten the hang of their dancing style, so I sat out for most of the dances and observed. Out tutor's mother was one of the best dancers on the floor. (oh, and the single women danced their best as the moms with single sons watched to see if they could find a suitable wife for their son)

-Each table was decorated with a simple artificial floral arrangement, a large bottle of water and one glass. Everyone shared.

-The bride and groom spent most of the evening in with the ladies - it is ok for the groom to see all the women uncovered, as they were mostly family and the groom is supposed to have "eyes only for the bride" on this special night. They had their first dance together as husband and wife - a fast dance (the groom looked incredibly uncomfortable). They spent the rest of the time on a big couch on a stage in front of the dance floor. Picture below.

-The cake was brought in with more sparklers and the bride and groom cut the cake with a giant sword and took the first bite using forks, not their fingers (much less messy).

-Pieces of cake were brought around to each table of women along with glasses of Pepsi and juice.

-After a few hours, the men wanted to come in a wish the bride and groom congratulations. I had no idea what was happening. All of a sudden, the women were running to their tables and fishing through the piles of black fabric on the tables to find their covering before the men arrived. It was quite a scene.

Daniel and I left the party early (around 11:30), and I immediately asked him about his night. The men didn't quite have the party that we did. Basically, they sat on the roof around tables with no music and no dancing. They drank Pepsi, ate some local dessert and chatted all night. In arabic. Daniel tried to keep up and understand what was being said. It was mostly a bunch of younger, single guys. He said he heard a lot of, "arabic, arabic, arabic, Facebook", and, "arabic, arabic, arabic, friend request". We got a kick out of that. Fun night, great experience!

our tutor's youngest sister

bride and groom entering the festivities

One of the younger cousins and women in the background before the head coverings came off- I wasn't allowed to take pictures after they took their coverings off

the bride and groom stage

the building where the party took place