This weekend I was fortunate enough to have been invited to a wedding. Actually, both Maram and Mai invited me because they are related (not sure I mentioned this before), so they are both relatives of the bride and the groom. Usually, the only people that go to these weddings are close relatives, no friends of friends, but I was an exception because I'm "ajnabiye" (foreigner)- it's funny how depending on the situation I'm considered Arab or foreigner- The wedding, they said, wasn't very traditional, but I think they were referring to the celebration part of the wedding because there were still many events that day that most certainly followed tradition.
On Thursday after school, Maram, Mai and I drove up to Arara in Mai's car. Just as we arrived, we went straight to the bride's family's house to partake in the first part of the tradition: the bride leaving her parent's house, or, as they say, her father's house. The bride's closest family gathered in the bride's father's house and, of course, there was food, coffee, tea, sweets, and all sorts of snacks involved. Although it wasn't a full on meal, everyone that came to the house was offered something to eat (it would be rude otherwise). When everyone was arriving at the bride's family's house, the bride and the groom were taking their wedding pictures in a scenic part of the country. They chose Ceasaria, and they were very lucky because it was a gorgeous day. From what I've been told, tradition varies, and sometimes the photo shoot happens after the bride officially leaves her father's house.
At 3pm- they said, but turned out to be more like 3.45pm- the bride arrived at the house and the women started singing traditional songs. I'm not sure if this is how it always happens, but the women and the men were in two different rooms. There was a cameraman and a photographer taking pictures and recording of this whole event. The bride then waited for the groom and his family to come over and take her to her new house.
Finally the groom and his family showed up with drums singing songs, and then everyone was united in the singing (bride and groom's family). The groom, then, talked to the bride's father to ask (once again) if he could take his daughter. Then the groom's parents welcomed the bride into the family and they took her. As she was leaving her house, the bride cried- when Maram was explaining this tradition to me she literally said "the bride must cry". I asked her if she had to and Maram said it wasn't mandatory, but it always just happens like that. I wonder if there's ever been a bride that didn't cry and if anything happened to her...Anyways, our bride did cry, but not a ton. Maram's comment was that she was trying not to, but she couldn't hold her tears back, so only a couple of tears were shed.
After they take the bride to her new family's home, there is a ritual with henna, but I'm not really sure of what it is; they put it on a leaf or something- I can't really remember because I didn't see that part of it.
After all the singing and clapping and pictures and tears, everyone in the family goes home and gets ready for the celebration. In this case, the celebration took place in Nazareth, so we all drove up there at night. At the celebration, there was tons of dancing and food and yet another tradition: dancing with the candles. The bride held two candles and danced with them lit, then gave one to the groom and they danced and took pictures. When this was happening they first had a guy with a saxophone playing- ps. took me the longest time to figure out what people were trying to tell me when they were talking about the saxophone, because the way they pronounce it sounds like "sexy phone" so I really had no idea of what to expect...-The saxophone part was not traditional, but then they sang the typical song for the candle dance. At this wedding, they also dimmed the lights, had fake snow, smoke on the ground and fire stands all around the bride- quite the show!
The dancing and eating continued for a bit and then we all went home. It was super fun :)
On Thursday after school, Maram, Mai and I drove up to Arara in Mai's car. Just as we arrived, we went straight to the bride's family's house to partake in the first part of the tradition: the bride leaving her parent's house, or, as they say, her father's house. The bride's closest family gathered in the bride's father's house and, of course, there was food, coffee, tea, sweets, and all sorts of snacks involved. Although it wasn't a full on meal, everyone that came to the house was offered something to eat (it would be rude otherwise). When everyone was arriving at the bride's family's house, the bride and the groom were taking their wedding pictures in a scenic part of the country. They chose Ceasaria, and they were very lucky because it was a gorgeous day. From what I've been told, tradition varies, and sometimes the photo shoot happens after the bride officially leaves her father's house.
At 3pm- they said, but turned out to be more like 3.45pm- the bride arrived at the house and the women started singing traditional songs. I'm not sure if this is how it always happens, but the women and the men were in two different rooms. There was a cameraman and a photographer taking pictures and recording of this whole event. The bride then waited for the groom and his family to come over and take her to her new house.
Finally the groom and his family showed up with drums singing songs, and then everyone was united in the singing (bride and groom's family). The groom, then, talked to the bride's father to ask (once again) if he could take his daughter. Then the groom's parents welcomed the bride into the family and they took her. As she was leaving her house, the bride cried- when Maram was explaining this tradition to me she literally said "the bride must cry". I asked her if she had to and Maram said it wasn't mandatory, but it always just happens like that. I wonder if there's ever been a bride that didn't cry and if anything happened to her...Anyways, our bride did cry, but not a ton. Maram's comment was that she was trying not to, but she couldn't hold her tears back, so only a couple of tears were shed.
After they take the bride to her new family's home, there is a ritual with henna, but I'm not really sure of what it is; they put it on a leaf or something- I can't really remember because I didn't see that part of it.
After all the singing and clapping and pictures and tears, everyone in the family goes home and gets ready for the celebration. In this case, the celebration took place in Nazareth, so we all drove up there at night. At the celebration, there was tons of dancing and food and yet another tradition: dancing with the candles. The bride held two candles and danced with them lit, then gave one to the groom and they danced and took pictures. When this was happening they first had a guy with a saxophone playing- ps. took me the longest time to figure out what people were trying to tell me when they were talking about the saxophone, because the way they pronounce it sounds like "sexy phone" so I really had no idea of what to expect...-The saxophone part was not traditional, but then they sang the typical song for the candle dance. At this wedding, they also dimmed the lights, had fake snow, smoke on the ground and fire stands all around the bride- quite the show!
The dancing and eating continued for a bit and then we all went home. It was super fun :)
hahahaha!!! sexy phone?? I'm sure you were like, oh my gosh, what is gonna happen??? hahaha miss you tons lovey!
ReplyDelete