Four Wazungu and a Wedding

 

Last Saturday night, Monika, John, Jenny and I went to a Tanzanian wedding. It was the wedding of Peter, a former GHTA student and now a carpenter, to Jennifa (that is the correct spelling) the woman he has lived with for several years and the mother of his 2 children (one of them named after Monika).  We asked Monika about Tanzanian weddings and she didn’t sound very excited about going.  She said we should skip the service because it’s long and Tanzanians really get into church.  She said the reception is also long, with lots of dancing, a buffet, lots of speeches…and cake. 

 Our taxi driver dropped us off in the parking lot of the Spring Source Restaurant and it was overflowing with Tanzanians. Us 4 Wazungu (white people) felt a little out of place.  As we walked to the entrance the Tanzanians cleared a path for us (as if we were celebrities) and we went in.

 

We were offered drinks (bottles of soda or beer) and then went to sit down.  There were tables like at a normal American/Western wedding but also seats in rows around the back.  We opted for the row seats.  There was a Master of Ceremonies who got the crowd (maybe 200- 250 people) riled up, and of course, he spoke entirely in Swahili so only Monika had a clue what he was saying.  He called the parents of the bride and groom to the middle of the dance floor to do a dance, and not a slow one.  And they really got down!

 

After the bride and groom entered, with much fanfare and dancing, they thanked their parents, and next thing we knew the camera spotlight was on the 4 of us, and people were gesturing for us to stand up.  It took us awhile to figure out what they wanted us to do, but we finally caught on, stood up, looked into the extremely bright spotlight with “deer in the headlights” expressions, and waved…the 4 wazungu.

 Next came the dancing.  All the guests formed a long line, dancing with their bottle of whatever drink they had in their hand, and went up to the front where the bride and groom were ready to say cheers with their bottles.  The 4 wazungu awkwardly joined the line.  

Then came the cake or what we thought was the cake.  It was actually a goat, completely cooked over a fire pit, but with the head completely intact and legs pointed straight up, covered with orange slices.  It was a little disturbing to see so I tried not to look at it. The wedding party fed pieces of goat to each other and the parents. 

 

 

 

Jenny and I had to use the ladies room and all I will say about the rest room is that it was not easy to do wearing a dress.  When we got back to our seats, before we could sit down, John said, “you need to walk up to the front and get cake from Peter”.  Jennie didn’t hear John say “walk” so she danced her way up while I walked behind her (Jennie and I have similar views on dancing, she was not happy when she found out she could have walked!).  We were the only ones going up to the front…all eyes in the hall were on the 2 of us.  When we got to the front, Peter held out a fork with a piece of cake (real cake, not goat, thank goodness) and put it in each of our mouths (feeding a small piece of cake to another person is a Tanzanian tradition). 

 

 

We arrived at 7:00 pm and by now it was almost 11:00.  We could barely keep our eyes open but we couldn’t leave until we gave them their gift (we opted for the card with cash).  One of the ushers was a lovely albino man who spoke good English.  I think he was put in charge of us because he would come to the row behind us, lean over and tell us what we were supposed to do (probably called to duty after we were clueless when we were supposed to stand up).  The gift giving began with the families of the bride and groom dancing their way to the front, waving their gifts over their heads and presenting them to Peter and Jennifa.  Our usher advised us we were next.  So the 4 wazungu, led by Monika, danced our way up to the front, Monika waving the envelope.  When we got to the front the MC handed Monika the microphone for her to give a speech.  When she started speaking in Swahili the crowd broke out in applause.  Our usher pulled me aside to tell me  we needed to get on the stage with Peter and Jennifa for a photo.  So the 4 wazungu did.  We were the only ones who had a photo taken with the bride and groom (besides the parents).

So the 4 wazungu went to a wedding and were treated like celebrities.  Not bad!