The Wedding

Yesterday we were able to attend a traditional wedding for one of Nate's guys, Omar.  Unlike weddings at home, yesterday was only day one of the four days of celebration.  We're supposed to be returning this afternoon for more festivities, then on Saturday for more, and finally on Sunday afternoon when the groom participates in his traditional tribal dancing. 

One of the fun parts of a Togo wedding is that the guests all wear the same pattern of fabric.  The groom selects the wedding fabric, orders loads of it and then sells it to the guests to wear for the events. Nate, the boys and I purchased the fabric and here we are - in all our orange and yellow and green and black glory:

The wedding began at Omar's home at 7 am.  Yes, in the morning.  We gathered with him and his family as guests arrived to greet him.

The groom and the boys

The family brought in some rice and beef sauce, candy and dates for us to eat.  Around 8:30 am, it was time to start moving.  The bride was still in her village, about 45 minutes away, and all the guests were to head there to greet her and bring her back to her new home and husband.

Our little car fits the four of us quite snugly, but for this trip, we fit seven of us inside.  You can't see Jack in the photo below because he's in the hatchback.

Another of Nate's workers drove our old green truck to the village as well.  There were about 9 men in the cab and another 15 or more in the bed, all the way to the village of Gando.

Upon arriving in Gando, the band started to play and the dancing began.  We joined the celebration.  As well, some men on motorcycles felt this was an appropriate time to do some burn-outs in the dirt.  The noise of the band (drums and trumpets), the revving of the motorcycles, and the immense amounts of dust/dirt being kicked up by the motorbikes were new wedding experiences for us.  The boys were thrilled!

After that the crowd moved towards the home of the bride.  She was then washed (in tribal tradition) by the women-folk in preparation for the wedding.  Her parents also went into the mosque and the ceremony of marriage took place - but neither bride nor groom were in attendance there.  This is a formality taken care of by parents.

There was more singing and dancing, as you can see in the photos below...

Social distancing?  Nah.

Jack dancing with the crowd

Teddy too!

After the washing, the bride was taken into her house to prepare to go to her new home, and the guests packed up to head back to Mango.  

When we arrived back in Mango, we dropped off our guests and everyone took a rest.  The festivities began again a few hours later with eating and dancing.  We returned to Omar's home where Nate ate with the men inside and I ate with the women outside.  We greeted family members we had never met.  We left around 9 pm and the party hadn't even really started.  Apparently the dancing would continue into the wee hours of the morning.  We were exhausted - and this was only day one of four!

In the photos above, there's one of our the boys and some of Omar's family, Nate and the guys he works with, and Sofianu's shoes - he made them to match his outfit!

Me and the bride

This was such a fun and interesting experience for each of us.  We feel very blessed to have been included in the family celebrations.