Can you imagine a village that has never seen a church wedding? This happened in Lwatwe. We were invited to attend the wedding of the pastor's daughter and elder's son. It was a LONG way to get to this remote village on the shores of Lake Rukwa in the Mbeya Region.
What joy it was to help the bride,Esther, dress in a beautiful gown that was donated from the US. (We rent them for less than $15 to help raise funds for the Youth Department.) She was bold enough to smile most of the day. Maybe that's because she'd never seen another wedding where the bride was super shy because culture says a proud bride will be a bad wife. The groom, Thabiti, was a bit more shy and as soon as possible he put his baseball cap back on!
Compared to other weddings in areas that have a long tradition of church weddings, this wedding has many things lacking. But because it was the first, it was excellent!
After the ceremony, gifts were given and then we ate at the Bride's family home. Then it was time to escort her to her in-law's home. It was a long, dusty walk but we wanted to make it a parade that the entire village could witness. You can see the newly weds and their escorts in these pictures. Tradition says that the bride leaves her home with a stool from her family. She also has some belongings that are in a bucket which is wrapped in a cloth. The gifts, though few because it was a first time wedding, were in another dish wrapped in another cloth and these women from her family carried them on their heads as they brought the bride to her home.
Here you see a picture of me and Mama Stewadi. She goes to all the weddings with me. She is great at translating all the tribal tongues that are often used in ceremonies. She also is a great help in advising the couple and the locals in details that may have been overlooked. I also enjoy the company in these long trips.
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