Nice day for a colourful wedding!

(getting my first Ghanaian piece of clothing made)

They say when you come to Africa if you have the chance to go to a wedding a funeral or a baptism you should go.  Well, I had the chance to go to a wedding...sort of.  Rabi, the bride, which I met during the Bolgatanga workshop my second week in Ghana, invited me and Elizabeth to her wedding.  I was very excited to experience this since Rabi is Muslim and I knew it would be very different form anything I had ever seen before.  

She mentioned that if we wanted to we could get some clothing made out of special cloth that many of the women at her wedding would be wearing.  I decided to get a wrap skirt made and, although it was not exactly how I wanted it to be, it was quite pretty.  

(the fabric my skirt is made out of)

Muslim weddings are very long.  They last three days.  The first, saturday, is mostly a preparation day.  The women get together to cook and prepare the activities.  Rabi said we should drop by.  On this day you can be casual since you are working.  I decided to go.  I arrived at noon.  Rabi was sitting in a small room with a few of her friends and it seems her day consisted of greeting guests.  She also got her hair extensions put in.  I spent most of three hours in the room with her and her friends.  There was about 15 minutes of english during the hole afternoon.  I’m not complaining.  

What i did have the chance to do was “help out” with the banku.  You will see in the following photos that I was not very good at it.  

(seeing how it is done)

(my turn to try with a little help and a little spillage) 

(still spilling and clearly very entertaining)

(on my own now, spilling BUT also getting some applause) 

(letting the pro's do it) 

(the pots, the wood, the fire)

Day two of the wedding.  Rabi mentioned that festivities begin at 8h30 and like a good Harrison I was there at 8h20.  Upon arrival I helped the women pack the rice and pepper sauce and beef into take away containers for later.  Rabi was not around so I took a few pictures of the kids.  They were all VERY happy about this.  So much so that sometimes it got a little crowded.  Rabi then made her appearance.  She looked like a completely different person.  Her dress was more subtle then I expected but the red and white was still quite striking.  Her head piece was my favourite.  It was amazing. 

(the bride)

(the bride)

(3 inches for sure)

(the head piece)

 In fact, many of the head pieces that the women were wearing were very pretty. I love how they manage to wrap it around and have it make these beautiful patterns.  Rabi then sat in that same little room and greeted guests.  I sat in the shade for a while, then went for a bit of a walk to see what the men were up to.  They were sitting in the shade chatting.  I asked the “elders” if I could snap a photo and they said yes!!!  

(guest at wedding)

(in the shade)

Back at the compound with the women the kids wanted me to “snap them”.  After about three hours I decided to go out of the compound where everyone was for a cigarette and a bit of a break from the kids.  There I was approached by a guy who said he was the grooms brother ( I never did get to see the groom).  He wanted to get a picture with me and my number but I managed to deter the conversation and got this photo instead. (see below)

(distraction was a success)

(snap snap)

(helping to set up the chairs)

(colour colour everywhere)

(pretty in yellow)

(keeping busy)

(shy smile)

(piercing look)

(growing up)

(was also sitting on a motorcycle)

(lets all try to get in this one)

And suddenly, familiar faces. Some of the people who work at the radio stations with us arrived.  Friends at last!!! We chatted a moment, they went to say hello to Rabi.  We all sat and chatted for about five minutes and then off they were.  I asked if anything was going to happen during the rest of the day and they told me that the actual ceremony had probably happened extremely early that morning and that nothing would really happen until the next day when they bring the bride to the grooms house.  Since I had been there three and a half hours I decided to get a ride home with them.  Elizabeth who went much later in the afternoon did get to see some traditional dancing.  I am a little disappointed that I did not get to see that but hey what can you do?!?

(radio friends with the bride)

So all in all I did not really get to experience a complete Muslim wedding but I did see some cute kids, some amazingly beautiful women and some lovely older and most probably very wise men.  I’m looking forward to actually sitting down with Rabi over a coke and discussing it all with her.  How does she feel now being married? How will her life be different now than it was before? etc. etc.