Tanzanian wedding

Went to my first Tanzanian wedding yesterday. So cool. It felt like 70% of it was dancing.

Not in the mood to write a huge post, but here are some tidbits to spike your curiousity…

• the bride and groom were actually an American and an Austrian
• the NGO they worked at decided to throw them a wedding
• the NGO staff quickly formed a ‘wedding committee’ (yes, you heard me right. apparently weddings here are not planned by the two getting married. they are planned by those around them!)
• the number of invited guests went from 150 to 250 to 350. It was about 150 in the end :P
• the whole thing was in Swahili, so about 7 people were left out of the loop most of the time, including the bride and groom
• the music was awesome
• bride and groom feed people on the honour seats cake. each person a piece
• people dance with the presents up to the stage for the bride and groom (so cool!). Our group of 4 foreigners had fun doing this, especially when a whole crowd joined us so we didn’t look so awkward!
• a drama youth group did this performance that probably signified the courting process. Super cool. Seriously, Tanzanians know how to dance. Even the tiny kids.
• Big dancing circle for everyone. Loved the “Mama”s that were just shaking it. And the little kids.

Some more interesting observations:

• there were two really drunk guys, that were being really disrespectful to some of the ladies. I don’t think they were even related to the people there. But they weren’t thrown out, just harshly scolded.
• some of the dances looked quite….provocative….in eyes of my culture. But middle school girls were performing it in front of everyone and nobody looked alarmed. It’s so interesting.
• those little kids can really shake it!!!
• the food was awesome, as always. I missed this food.