My Uncle's Wedding

A wedding in Senegal even though I have now experienced it is still a bit of a mystery. One day my host dad told me he was going to go to a nearby village for the day. I was ok whatever, it's not like you do anything when your here (he's a little on the lazy side). Then I was talking to my 1st host mom and she told me was bargaining. For what? For his younger brother wife. My dad is 50-52 and my uncle can't be more than 5 years younger. The girl bargained for is 20. I am not sire how much of a choice she had in the decision. My uncle already had one wife and 6 kids at this point. After negotiations were done they set a date for her to move to our compound. For two days before this there were like 30 women in my house pounding and steaming millet. I was told Iwas not allowed to work for a week and had to have discussions only. I managed to keep my garden alive and even get some okra planted even though they mildly disapproved. The day of the wedding Adja (the bride) arrived at 630 before it was even light out. The car stopped right outside my room while women screamed and people beat on drums and danced. The bride usually sits with the mother of the groom during the ceremony but that one of my grandmas is dead so her little sister took her place. The groom wasn't even at the part where the spiritual leader (Maribout) prayed some prayers. I didn't understand a word of it unfortunately. Next the women of the compound went about getting breakfast together which was millet and sour milk with sugar. It tastes better than it sounds especially when you never get milk. It was like yogurt and granola. We had that at around 10. The bride was getting here hair and makeup done at the neighbors the whole time. For the previous two days and this days included all the men did was sit and drink tea. Well they did kill and dismember 2 goats. I really feel an animal knows the difference of when you want to catch it and when you want to catch and eat it. Around 430 the bride and the 1st wife walked through the compound on top of fabric like we would put in the aisle in church. When lunch was done my moms and grandmas,the bride and first wife, all put on clothes we had made from the same fabric. Then we pretty much just hung out and talked all night. The next day we ate another big goat lunch but no big breakfast. This day it was only the closer family and not many friends. By Sunday we were all exhausted and laid around all day. Monday though,just when I thought it was done, there was as ceremony of laundry washing. The newly wed was taken to a robinet and she knelt at all four corners to pray. Then they helped her fill pans with water and everyone brought some clothes. They washed clothes and danced. My family wore their matching clothes again. I didn't really understand the significance and I had to work so I only watched a little of this. So be thankful that in our culture we hire people to do all the cooking and a lot of the other prep stuff. I didn't see anyone else with a camera there so I am printing the ones I have off for them.