HERE COMES THE BRIDE...

You may recall a previous post about visiting a traditional Arab family in a small village just outside of Amman (where we ate goat brain, tongue, etc.).  Well since our visit I (Andrew) have stayed good friends with Ahmed and last weekend we were invited out to his house again to attend his sister’s wedding party.  It was a Thursday night (which is the beginning of our weekend here) so at about 4:00 we bought some flowers for the bride, found a bus heading to the village, and saddled up for a long night.

 When we arrived to Salt Ahmed picked us up and took us the rest of the way to his house.  We were the first guests to arrive so we got to see the decorated house before everyone got there (which was especially cool for us guys to see where the women would be partying before we had to split up).  There were two huge red throne chairs up on a platform for the bride and groom and we got to sit on them and take pictures.  Once the guests started to arrive the guys went outside to sit around and shoot the breeze for the rest of the night while drinking tea and coffee and smoking.  We also set off fireworks from the roof of the house during the middle of the party.  As for the women – they danced.... and danced.... and danced.  And apparently they were all dressed up in fancy outfits, (for example- one of the sisters was wearing black fish net leggings, a really short skirt blue and white skirt with a matching spaghetti top shirt and lots of black necklaces) and dresses.  Chana describes the bride as wearing a big blue puffy prom dress.

 At about 10:00 we were invited to a room upstairs and somebody went and got our wives to meet us up there.  It was totally unexpected but because we couldn’t go to the mansaf party the next day (we had church) they prepared a little mansaf dinner just for the 5 of us!  It was an incredibly thoughtful gesture (mansaf is not a quick fix) and once again another demonstration of their generous hospitality.  This time it was with chicken as opposed to the goat meat we had last time.  After we ate and sat around for a while we were invited back downstairs.  All the guests had left and it was just the family.  Because it was just family the guys and girls got back together and they had a little family dance party and wanted us to join.  So we danced.... and danced... and danced some more.  Finally we told them we needed to go (it was past midnight by this point) despite their begging us to spend the night.  They refused to let us take a taxi home so ended up driving us all the way back to Amman (and absolutely refused to let us give them ANY gas money).     

 We’ve been lucky to have some authentic cultural experiences with the people here, which most foreigners visiting the Middle East would never have.  It’s helped us understand and gain a greater appreciation for the people here and what they have to offer.

Us sitting on the heart shaped thrones

(This is where the bride sat during the party and where the bride and groom sit during the ceremony the next day.)

Ahmed's parents sitting on the thrones

(Notice the flowers: we gave those to the bride.)

Where the guys hung out and where the ceremony takes place the next day

(The ceremony consists of the groom coming and giving the bride a ring and a necklace. Then they drive to their new home followed by all of the guests who attended the wedding honking their horns the whole way.)

The five of us plus Ahmed's brother-in-law eating Mansaf

Ahmed's brother-in-law, his brother Sayel, Andrew, and Chana

Part of Ahmed's family