One of the things that Alison mentioned in the previous post was the make-up. Here's a great (though slightly more exuberant) example of the make-up. You can see more examples at this website.
Also, I wanted to share this quote with you. A comment a Bahraini friend left on facebook regarding the last post:
300 people? thats it? maybe i should invite you to a wedding from my mom's side of the family. its normally mixed men and women from the beginning. 8 pm till about 5 am. dinner and breakfast. not a lot of people are covered, a lot of people are drunk, and girls and boys on the dance floor. about 1000 to 1500 people.Its good to note that there are a wide variety of people in Bahrain - from the very conservative (which is what westerners typically think of) to the more liberal. So while my descriptions are interesting and exotic, please don't take this as a 100% cross-section of Bahraini society!
And now - Part II (read part 1 here)
After Alison came home to feed Eva, we headed out around 11:30 pm back to the wedding. When we arrived, Alison headed into the hall where the women were, and I went into another door, wandering around until I found something that looked like the men's gathering. Fortunately, some former students saw me and brought me into where the men were sitting.
The room had about 20 or 30 men inside, presumably most family of the bride and/or groom. Most stared at me awkwardly as I obviously wasn't a part of the family! A familiar face found me (brother of the groom) and he graciously offered me his seat and we started chatting. The women were in the main hall, so I asked him if he'd been in there. I thought maybe, since he was family, he was allowed. But he responded, "If I were to go in there, they'd kill me!" I got the sense he was only half joking. You see, many of the women would be uncovered, and it would be considered shameful for him to see those women - particularly the bride.
After about 10 minutes, the father of the groom came in to tell the men it was time for them to go in. The men slowly started to move towards the door as the father enthusiastically encouraged/pushed us out and into the main hall. As the men entered, many of the women came up to escort them in. I'm not sure, but I got the sense that the women were family members - sisters, wives, cousins, etc. It seemed similar to the entrance of the wedding party in a western wedding, where all attention is focused on them. And there I was, standing awkwardly in the middle of everything! I'm sure people were wondering who the weird American was standing in the middle of the family as they were entering!
Timidly I waited, unsure of what to do, or where to go. Most of the tables were occupied by women. And though some of the men told me that it was alright to go sit with my wife, I wasn't convinced that it would have been completely culturally appropriate. Fortunately, Alison saved the day and came up to me, and we walked together where the bride and groom were sitting.
They were seated at the front of the hall, with elaborate decorations behind them. No one was sitting directly next to them, but a large square area was blocked off around them, of which they were at the head. This square area had chairs around the outside, and hard wood floors in the middle.
We were ushered up to the front by the father of the groom, and we got in line behind 30 other people. We waited to give congratulations to the bride and groom and have our picture taken with them (if I ever get the picture, I'll post it here). After we finished that, I went to sit in the much smaller mens section, and Alison returned to the womens section.
I sat next to one of my former students (the brother of the groom), and we chatted for a little bit, before it was time to hit up the buffet. And what a buffet it was - fantastic arabic/persian/indian food. I really do love the food in this country. We all took generous portions, and headed back to our seats to chow down (and get indigestion due to eating at 12 midnight!). As we ate, here area few things we observed:
- The mother of the groom went up with 1/2 dinar bills (worth about $1 each) and 'sprinkled' them over the bride and groom. The children rushed around to collect the money that had fallen on the floor.
- the center of the square (of which the bride and groom were the head) was a dance area, and a variety of people were dancing. Old, young, men, women - it was a lot of fun to watch the old men dance with the younger girls (though I think they were all family)!
- The bride and groom cut the cake and ate it, but few people payed attention. However, it was all caught on video by the professional videographers!
- The bride and groom spent most of their time getting their picture taken with various people, and very little time socializing. Honestly, they looked exhausted (which was confirmed to us when we saw them later that next week!)
- The music was LOUD. It was apparently Arabic. Or Persian. The people I talked to weren't quite sure.
So, at 1am, it was time to leave! Alison had made her way over near where I was sitting and we decided that it was time to head home. On our way out, we said our goodbyes to friends, thank-yous to the groom's parents (who had invited us in the first place) and congratulations to the bride and groom (who apparently didn't make it out for another hour or two!)
I think what struck me was how similar it was to even our own wedding! Or at least the reception portion of it. A cake was cut, most people just ate, people dressed in new dresses and sharp suites. One of the things that was missing, comparatively at least, was the marriage ceremony itself (though I'll write about that another time).
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