I did, in the end, manage to convince Kelvin to take me to the kuhaswa last friday night. I thought it was sort of a 'men only' event but I was wrong.
Let me just say that it was quite the experience. A fun one at that.
We arrived at 11:30pm in a convoy of cars. As we arrived, we could hear the scratchy speakers playing local music and saw tons of people standing outside the door laughing, singing, dancing. We got out of the cars and waited a few minutes. Meanwhile the ladies from the brides place worked their way towards us singing, hollering, dancing, cheering, and generally having fun. It was a hoot!
Then the groom's people (me included) took the sanduku (a suitcase covered in a lesso) and brought it up to the door. Thats when the bargaining began.
It was quite lively.
Check it out for yourselves. The bride's side is yelling "They don't have money" and the groom's side is yelling "We have!"They finally settled on a price and we were allowed to deliver the sanduku to the bride inside.
We had to wait to see if the bride was satisfied with what was inside. I would have been surprised if she wasn't because I think she was the one who helped the groom pack it.
There's Martha, the bride, sitting as they explain what's inside.
Rahab and Gabby trying to get a peak over the crowd of ladies.
She was happy and the room cleared. We hung up the dress (which was also inside the sanduku) and waited for the wazee (older people) from each family to chat. That took a long time.
Then came the traditional kuhaswa blessing. The bride and groom sit with their best man and maid of honour while the elder family members of the bride give them advice. I was told that, because the family was christian, they don't spit on the couple like they are suppose to. It's too bad as I waited all night for that part!
Senior had to identify which one was his bride. I didn't even know. He did pick the right one though.
The whole night was so cool. It was so neat to see two families come together in celebration for their kids. Although, we didn't get home till 4am. We got about 3 hours of sleep before we had to get up for the wedding.
On to the wedding day...
The groom entering the church. This is it!
I was so busy during the wedding, I didn't get a chance to take many pictures. So I took pictures of them taking pictures.
My fav part of the weddings - welcoming the newlyweds to the reception.
Just a glimpse of the fun.
Some handsome men tearing up the dance floor - I mean grass.
The newest newlyweds!
I loved this moment. Everyone had left and the decorations were being taken down. We got to just sit with the couple while they waited for their car. Time to unwind from the awesome day. Actually, they ended up giving us a ride home on their way to their honeymoon!
Congrats Martha and Senior!
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