Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Arusi ya Tatu

Arusi ya Tatu means “Third Wedding” in Kiswahili, and that’s exactly what I did with my weekend—went to my third Msambweni wedding! My family is amazing at trying to plan fun things to include me in their culture, and weddings definitely fit the bill. This weekend Mama and Baba and I took a friend’s car through the city of Mombasa to the North Coast to the small village of Mazeras to see another one of Mama’s cousins get married. (Her grandfather had multiple wives, so she has lots of cousins…) The wedding was everything a wedding should be—joyous, exciting, and full of love. I got to be in the room for part of the actual ceremony this time, which was really interesting and fun. The bride sits in her room, beautifully done up and wearing a lime-green veil. A sheet surrounds her as she sits and waits for the groom. He is led into the room by his elders, and after he is seated across from her bed the sheet is lifted and they see each other and are ready to marry. There were literally hundreds of people trying to get into her room to watch so I left at this point to make room for people who had actually met either the bride or groom before, but it was a cool taste of a Swahili wedding. Mama dressed me to the nines again, and I later in the weekend I even bought a traditional Swahili dress like the ones in my pictures (be prepared, I’ll be wearing it around Madison this summer! Ha.)

I had a great time with Mama and Baba on our ‘road trip’. I explained the concept of American road trips to them and they thought it was hilarious and kept referring to it as our ‘big adventure’. When we drove past the airport in Mombasa, Mama told me that “when you return to visit us after you’re done with nursing school you can fly straight to this airport and we will pick you up right here”. Glad to know that’s settled! It hadn’t been discussed, but it’s good to see we’re on the same page that I won’t be able to stay away from Msambweni for long.

Mama and I with the bride and groom. I didn't get the memo that smiling wasn't cool...

1 comment:

  1. haha love the picture. we shall return together post-nursing school! ahhh we find out in like 3 weeks only!! let's let each other know ASAP! fingers crossed...

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