Bridget's Bunia Blog 45

There's rarely a week goes by without there being a wedding in town. Bunia weddings are a riot of colour, noise and activity.

The bride wears white, of course. White dress, white shoes, white handbag, a bouquet of white silk flowers, tiara, headdress and veil. The groom wears a dark suit. The family of the bride select a particular piece of material and all the members have an outfit sewn in that cloth. The groom’s family do likewise. As do the friends of the bride, the friends of the groom, the catering crew, the members of the choirs. It’s easy to identify the players in the game.

Bounding up and down the aisle like kangaroos is a troupe of little girls in (almost) white socked feet, white dresses and white Easter bonnets. They bound forward looking floorward in complex choreographed harmony to take handfuls of shredded paper from the baskets halfway up the aisle, and then bound back to shower the bride and groom with the paper. The attendants of the bride and groom wipe the paper from their bodies and the sweat from their brows. They are clean until the next fistful of shredded paper arrives. This is fatiguing to watch, and so must be incredibly exhausting to perform since it takes a good 40 minutes for the couple to slow-step to the front of the church. Meanwhile, another group of uniformed dancers is beginning a performance half way up the church. These are teenage girls with a more sophisticated taste in denim skirts, flimsy blouses, wigs and beauty spots or Fila hats and sunglasses.

The bride is given away by her uncle who reads out her biography, as too, does a representative of the groom’s family. These days the biographies are long, since they include primary, secondary and higher education and the current, salaried positions that both groom and bride enjoy. For Christian families, the biographies include their dates of conversion and baptism, and details of service in the church.

The essential wedding service is pretty much the same as that in an English wedding with charges and vows. However, it always takes me by surprise when the congregation shouts and claps and ululates after the vows have been exchanged. I felt sorry for the bride who was told that her ring was purchased at the local market. No Cartier 20-carat gold for her! But the point the officiant was making was that anyone could buy one like it; it was merely a symbol, not a magic accoutrement.

Several choirs bless the couple with specifically-composed songs mentioning their names and giving advice on how to live together in peace. During one of these numbers, guests are invited to present their gifts to the couple. All manner of useful household items are sashayed up the aisle and deposited in the big enamel bowl. If you purchase a wedding gift in the stores in town you can even get it gift-wrapped.

After a good two hours it’s time to leave. The dancing girls accompany the couple to the waiting car festooned with streamers of toilet paper. Hooting cars and motor bikes - carrying as many as possible - leave to drive round town and wave at the inhabitants. After the circuit, the main players go home to change and reappear an hour later for the reception and another two hours of exuberant celebration - this time with food.

Let us rejoice and be glad; let us praise his greatness! For the time has come for the wedding of the Lamb, and his bride has prepared herself for it. She has been given clean shining linen to wear." (The linen is the good deeds of God's people.)
Then the angel said to me, "Write this: Happy are those who have been invited to the wedding feast of the Lamb." Rev 19:7-9

Blessings,
Bridget