While I was in Marabelo, i received lots of invitations. all were important but the first and second weekend I was invited to two weddings. What fun!
The first wedding was in a nearby village called Gulubane. This was also a small traditional village so I was anxious to go. I also was only in Marabelo for a couple of days so i was excited to be out among villagers in their own setting,not a city setting.
I was invited to sit in on the groom's family meeting ans although I did not speak much setwana yet, what pertained to me was translated. The family leader felt it important that I was treated well, and as a guest and should be made to feel happy. As much as this is gracious and a blessing, i also wanted to feel like a part of our village and not set apart more than necessary.
The women made me feel quite comfortable, but I made it a point to walk around and talk to people. i must admit that my favorites were old women and young children.
When the bride and her family arrive at the groom's house, there is much dancing and shouting. The women ululate loudly and dance in front of the family with brooms and blankets, representing the bride's new domestic duties. It is very important to make the bride and her family feel welcome and they were served tea. I was permitted to be part of this and it was wonderful. I then went walking towards the cooking fire, and was asked to dance by some of the young adult women. They apparently thought I would not, because as soon as I did, many of the girls cheered and ran to dance with me. I was then given a chair where they had been preparing vegetables and got to join their group. we had a great time; they talked about their impressions of the States and I shared my impressions of Botswana. Some of these young women had never been out of the village but they knew a great deal about life outside. They were curious and were very pleased that I also asked them questions. I had really connected with a few of them and I had companions for the rest of the wedding.
After dinner, we then danced. This group did not do any real traditional dancing. Instead, there was a DJ and we did some line dancing. I tired out and took a seat with the Khaiza family, who were pleased that I enjoyed myself despite the language difficulties. We watched one of the most gorgeous sunsets I had ever seen and soon left for home.
The next weekend the wedding was more traditional, with the bride and groom in traditional clothes. There was a group of men from the couple's church who proceeded to sing and dance for the wedding guests and then a group of women. It was a great deal of fun, and once again I sat with the elderly women who were very curious about me. I learn so much from them-many of them do not ever leave the village but their wisdom and outlook transcends town boundaries.
Very early the next morning, Rra Khaiza and I left for a funeral for a young man. There seem to be only two main reasons for someone so young dying--car accident or disease. He did not die from an accident. It was very sad, and i hurt for the family. Seems as though funerals are held almost entirely on weekends, usually on Saturdays. Well, in this country, there are always funerals. The percentage of AIDS deaths is high, but also auto accidents are unbelievably high. Driving here is risky business, for so many reasons. Alcoholism, cars that are unsafe, and disregard for road signs......yikes.
This past weekend I was invited to a very special celebration. It was a celebration of the local church's bishop's one year anniversary of his death. At this service, his widow will have her widow clothing, or uniform removed and her grieving period is considered over. We started the celebration Thursday night and the feasting began on Friday. Saturday night we gathered at the church at about 10pm and the celebration was at about 3am. We then continued to worship, sing, dance, pray until 6 or so, maybe 630am. It was then time for me to get ready for the drive back to Gaborone. Life here is good. It is hard, but we find ourselves involved in simple but wonderful celebrations.
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