dancing...swazi style.

We’re not exactly sure how we got involved or why we were invited to join, but we were asked to be in a traditional Swaziland wedding. In order to participate in this wedding we had to learn the dances. So we started going to dance practices every day the first week we were on the homestead. We would go and try to keep up and have all the kids laugh at us when we would mess up. You would think it wouldn’t be that hard because all you’re doing is stomping, but dang it was hard. Thankfully I have a marching band background so it wasn’t too difficult for me but it was still hard. You had to stay in step and every song had different steps and rhythms. But we keep going and going to practice and eventually we start recognizing the songs and knowing what steps to do. Well the big day finally comes…wedding day! and it’s time to dance! We get all dressed up in our Swazi wraps and we are welcomed once to wedding by “You are so beautiful!! You are Swazis now!!” Which I’m not gonna lie…it felt really good hearing that! Once the bride finally comes out of the hut she is dressed in one of the craziest get-ups I have ever seen. She was wearing a head-dress with lots of feathers sticking out of the top and then these white strings things were hanging in front of her eyes. She also had on her shoulders this cover up that was made up of horse hairs. It covered her shoulders, the front and back of her. It looked extremely heavy. Once we finally get lined up like we had practiced, we dance for two hours or more. It was exhausting. And we each got several of proposals. It is a big deal that each of us girls walked away without a husband. I mean really!! They will come up to you and say “Hello I am in love” and the first that comes into your mind is “oh great.” The men are persistent and they don’t understand “No. There is someone else in the states waiting for me. I don’t need a Swazi boyfriend or husband. It doesn’t matter how many cattle you have I can’t marry you.” Really it is very draining. And unfortunately it was only the end of day one.

Saturday morning we woke up and got all dressed up again to go dancing. Apparently today was the actual ceremony. We walked down to the where ceremony was taking place and everyone was still getting ready. After about an hour of waiting again, everyone lines up and we march up extremely slowly to where the wedding was going to takes place. After the bride goes up and talks to some elderly woman (I’m assuming asking for permission to be married), the dancing began. Again it lasted for two or more hours and it was exhausting. We still got marriage proposals from several different men. This was one of the most hilarious and confusing things that I have seen so far. They would run up to carrying a stick or shovel or whatever they had. But they would run up to us and then slam it down on the ground in front of us and then look up at us and then run away run. Everyone around us would laugh as we were looking at each other going “what the heck was that?!” We asked our translator what it meant and apparently it means that they are asking for our hand in marriage. Perfect. But all in all the marriage ceremony was a huge learning experience and a lot of fun. It was a definitely an experience that I am extremely thankful for and we hope it will hope a lot of doors for us to pour into these women’s lives.