The pre-wedding Feast

So we are going a bit out of order….. But we access the internet when we can. Yesterday, Saturday the 4^th, we were invited to a pre-wedding ceremony at a local village. There where 13 of us who attended. We walked about 1 ¼ miles to arrive. When we arrived, we were “pinned” with a decorative hanchercheif for a “gift” of 200 shillings ($2.50 in US Dollars) we then sat in lawn chairs and waited for all the guests to arrive so the festivities could begin.

After some singing and dancing, the groom and his bride appeared. Only later did we find out they were already married. She had been “given” to him and the party was to raise the funds to pay his new father in-law the “bride’s price”. The happy couple was seated at the head table, a local pastor did a brief sermon on the wedding feast at Cana and then all were treated to a late lunch.

The ladies were served first, buffet style, which was unusual

In this culture so we were a bit surprised.

After the ladies were served, the hosts approached us with warm water and towels for us to wash our hands. Then each male was served lunch form the food set apart at the head table. Here is a picture showing the difference in the lunch served to Janine and I.

After all had eaten, people were called up by groups to present their gifts to the bride and groom. The groom started off the gifts with a hundred shillings and it went on from there. The entire ceremony was in Kicomba which is the local language so we were fairly lost as to what was going on. When it was time to presents our gifts, I accidently went up during a call for lady friends of the bride. This sent our group into histerical laughter! :D

We totally enjoyed the affair even after trudging home the 1 ¼” mile walk. We were glad we had been invited to go! Oh..... here is the official "hat" picture from Machakos, Kenya.  You never know what you will encounter while out for a stroll!  :D  We will be finishing ABO on Monday and will finally arrive at RVA sometime early afternoon on Tuesday. We are assured the internet connection will be better so we will be able to post all of our experiences including our safari adventure the previous Saturday!

Be Blessed,

we love you all!