Jacqueline's Wedding

So, as I wrote about in The Cow Ceremony, I was invited to the wedding celebrations of Jacqueline, Leonard's niece, and Clement. First, on Sunday, there was the registration ceremony, then the Dot (the dowry ceremony), and on Boxing Day there was the Church service and the receptions (yes - multiple receptions).

The Church service and receptions were held in Kigali, where Clement is from and where the couple will be living. This meant another early start and an adrenaline-filled two-hour bus journey. Luckily Miri and I got to wear imikenyero again, this time in a garish shade of orange... (Libby when we got home: Is is Halloween?!)

The Church service was wonderful, and Jacqueline looked so beautiful.

(Sorry about the picture quality, my camera was doing weird things...)

The service lasted about 2 hours, and after that we went to some gardens where the wedding photos were taken.

Then we traveled to a reception venue - much like the photo taking session, we had no idea what was really going on til we got there. The reception featured a band, cake, dancing and many many many speeches (did I tell you that Rwandans LOVE speeches?!) By this time we were really hungry as we hadn't eaten since breakfast at 7.30am, and the reception went on until 6.30pm.

 (Again bad picture quality. Not my fault - some random guy picked up my camera and started taking photos for me.)

We were then taken to Jacqueline's and Clement's new house, where we had food. By this time Miri and I were on the verge of fainting, especially in the heat and the fact I had to carry and present 5kg of carrots as a gift to the new couple (I had visions of tripping over my dress and throwing carrots everywhere. So much orange!)

There were more speeches, and at last the bride started crying, so we could go home. There's a tradition in Rwanda that the guests must stay and sing until the bride cries, and then the wedding is over. I think Jacqueline may have been pretending to cry as it was so late and everyone was so tired, but either way I was glad that we could begin our journey back to Butare. The 11pm bus journey back was actually terrible as Rwandans love extremely loud music on small minibuses, and unfortunately I was right next to the only speaker - my request to turn down the music slightly was met with laughter!

Although it was such a long day, with minimal food and water, the ceremonies were really interesting and the Church service in particular was really nice. Jacqueline and Clement are a wonderful couple and I was really honoured to be a guest at all of their wedding ceremonies!

Try explaining snowmen to people who have no concept of snow...

Noheli Nziza!

Here's a round-up of our Rwandan Christmas so far! 

On Monday, it was Christmas at LLCCM. All of the LLCCM-sponsored children came for a morning of worship, Christmas songs and celebrations. However, before they arrived, we got stuck in with preparing the lunch...

Chopping cabbages and tomatoes Rwandese-style! 

The children arrived and we firstly began by explaining some of the Christmas decorations.

 

Describing 'snowmen' to a group of Rwandese children was pretty difficult since none of them had ever encountered the concept of snow before. And explaining that Father Christmas has a sleigh pulled by flying reindeers was met with both laughter and confusion...especially when I had to describe a reindeer. 'It's a like a cow...with big horns...' Cue hysterical laughter from all the children! 

We then taught them Silent Night...in three different languages. Firstly, the Kinyarwanda version (after struggling to stick the lyrics on the wall).

 

Then the English and German versions. 

The children absolutely loved singing the song in different languages and picked up the words surprisingly quickly. I still can't get my head around the Kinyarwanda words! 

We danced, ate rice and beans, cultivated cabbages for each child to take to home, took photos and generally had a day of celebration. Happy Christmas LLCCM! 

 

The Cow Ceremony

Well, as pointed out by Hyacinthe, technically we didn't attend a cow ceremony. Instead Miri and I attended a Dot ceremony of Jacqueline, which is where the dowry for Jacqueline's family was agreed upon before her wedding on Thursday. Traditionally, the dowry in Rwanda is measured in cows, which means the groom's family must give enough money for a specified number of cows, as well as gifts and champagne.

We arrived at Leonard's house at 8am to be fitted for our dresses - imikenyero - traditional Rwandese celebration dresses. 

We then traveled (in the most rickety minibus ever) to the Tumba registration office for the marriage registration.

Miri, Leonard and I

Promise (Leonard's daughter), me and Christian

Miri and Leonard

Me and Christan

Jacqueline making the vows

Miri and I with Jacqueline

We then went to the house of the bride's family where the Dot was held. 

As well as the speeches and negotiating between the two families (we didn't have much of an idea what was going on) and drinking of bright green and bright blue 'champagne', there was traditional dancing, singing and a procession of the bride and groom. 

Alvin, Miri and Jean-Louis

Family Portrait - with Alvin, Leonard's son

Me and Hyacinthe

 We had a wonderful time playing with the children after the ceremony, taking photos, and having everyone admire our dresses. We even wore our dresses back to Butare to show Hyacinthe and Libby - and Miri and I felt like celebrities as everyone on the street was so impressed with how smart we were.

I'm now really looking forward to the wedding on Thursday - we'll get to wear the imikenyero again! 

Merry Christmas from Rwanda! Here's a Christmas greeting Rwandan style.

Christmas arrives at LLCCM!

Today I am not feeling well. I'm even missing dance class! (even after my success on Tuesday at actually getting both the steps and the arms right, amidst cheering and applause from all the other guys there). Miri and Libby have gone without me, and left me with alone with my runny nose, sore throat and achy joints, to update my blog and drink hot chocolate. Luckily, my advent present from Libby yesterday was two handkerchiefs, one with a special message on and one plain to decorate!

 All those times I turned my nose up (literally) at your handkerchiefs, and you were right all along, Dad. I am officially a handkerchief convert.

Anyway, today we accompanied Miri to LLCCM to help decorate it for Christmas. It was a pretty quiet day since the children are coming to celebrate on Monday, but we had a couple of helpers and we were soon busy making paper chains and a 'Merry Christmas' banner.

Miri's German Christmas biscuits definitely went down well! 

I mainly stuck to making paper chains, since I was feeling under the weather I felt more up to a menial repetitive task that required minimal creativity! But the other guys created some absolutely fantastic decorations that will surely be dug out for many more Christmases to come. 

It didn't go unnoticed by the LLCCM goat either...

 The only problem was tidying up at the end - we had made such a mess!

I can't wait to go to LLCCM on Monday for their Christmas celebrations and see the children's reaction to the colourful decorations. Christmas in Africa is completely different, and so it is always exciting to exchange cultural practices and try and learn more about each others celebrations.Thanks LLCCM for allowing us to decorate your hall and helping us spread some Christmas cheer. 

Oh and on the way home, we spotted this: (photo courtesy of Libby)

Oh hey chickens taking a ride on a lorry. This is Africa!