So on Saturday the 1st of March, I woke up and went downstairs for breakfast. I had Wheat Bix (my NEW favorite cereal) with a banana, orange juice and some nasty Greek yogurt. I don't like yogurt, but I tried it anyway. After breakfast (which was at 10 or 11 something in the morning because I need sleep) I got ready quickly to go with Klaus and Helene to a Sudanese wedding that was being held at their church. When we got to Glynde, Helene and I weren't sure exactly where to sit so we sat near the back. Klaus has been called to do some of the sound work. We were lucky to sit in the back because we actually ended up sitting on the males side of the church. The men sit on the left side of the church and the women on the right.
The wedding was to start at 12 in the afternoon. But it didn't actually get going until about 12:30 I think. The bride, Nyakim, was at the church, but the groom, William, was not because he didn't have a ride to the church. He had arranged rides for everyone and himself, but there was a mix up. So when he arrived the wedding started.
The bride walked down the aisle to "My Heart Will Go On" by Celine Dion (you know the Titanic song). And the Maid of Honor was wearing a white dress as well as the bride. I was slightly confused here because I wasn't sure if this was normal for a Sudanese wedding, Australian wedding or not at all. Turns out they just wanted a Western wedding and that was their interpretation of a Western wedding. I did feel bad for a while at the beginning of the ceremony because Pastor Jon forgot the bride's name!
The ceremony was beautiful - it was done in English and Neur which is the language of the Sudanese. I had no idea what was being said when it was done in Neur, but I got the jist of it. There were two officiating pastors - Jon from Glynde and Peter, who is Sudanese, from St. Stephen's. Each gave a message during the wedding and did their little bits - all while sharing the same non-handheld microphone which was quite an impressive feat to me.
During the ceremony, the women who were leaders would just break out and shout, "AY YAYAYAYAYAYAYA!!!!!!" when something good was happening or just to give their approval. It scared the crap out of me the first time it happened and I jumped so high. I found out later that this is done quite a bit at Sudanese weddings.
The reception was being held at 6 o'clock that night and we didn't attend. But after the wedding I did get to mingle with people and I talked to Pastor Jon about the ceremony. I cracked up when he said that he really needed a stiff drink after the wedding. Things didn't go as planned exactly and it was just very stressful. You never would have known because they covered quite nicely - well in English they did, I don't know Nuer.
Nyakim and William signing the register
Some of the wedding party signing the register
I tried to get a view to show the sitting arrangements
The wedding party
Nyakim and William walking down the aisle after the ceremony
(All photos by Hilary Wieck)
After the wedding I went back to Helene's house and crashed until dinner time. After dinner, I played a card game with Simon, Helene and Katarina. I think it's called Golf (I couldn't understand Simon, no matter how many times he said the word) and it was fun. I was the first loser of the game. After this I tried to get my internet to work so that I could blog, but it didn't work. So I used Simon's computer for a bit before I ended up writing my blogs up in Word while Jeremy and Simon played games on their computers. I was the last person to go to bed and I decided I wasn't going to church in the morning since I was going to church at St. Stephen's tomorrow night for the Holden Evening Prayer service. I have no idea what that is so I will find out and let you know!
Cheers.
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