CROSS CULTURAL WEDDING

Hello everyone, hope the Christmas holiday has been fantastic. Mine has been pretty eventful with lots of places to go to and people to visit. I attended a traditional wedding here in Lagos yesterday and it was fun. The groom is from Anambra while the bride is from Akwa Ibom. When my father showed me the invitation card, I jokingly told him that it wouldn't be a bad idea to have my own traditional wedding (Igba-Nkwu) in Lagos. At least, it would save us the stress of travelling and all that. He said Mba,,,, that in our culture (Igbo), the traditional wedding must be done in the girls' village..............I just smiled because I already knew that would be his response. My father loves his tradition ehnnnnn. Chai. :-)

Anyway, back to the wedding i attended. I love the idea of cross cultural weddings. The fusion of both cultures adds color to the event. The wedding was held at the poolside of a hotel. At the entrance of the venue, we were welcomed by two ladies who beckoned on us to come and sign the couple's tree. Below is the picture:

They politely informed us that the couple requested that everyone should thumbprint and write their names on their paper tree. It was my first time of seeing that and it was amusing, but we obliged them. I guess the couple would later frame it. We were given baby wipes to clean the ink from our fingers and then ushered to our seats to enjoy the wedding rites and all. I loved watching the cultural troupe from Akwa Ibom as they entertained us. Below are some pictures I took of them:

I like their dance. The way they twirl around with that round thing on their waist and all was fun to watch. I also appreciated my Ndi Igbo people when they came out to do their traditional dance and usher the groom to his seat..:

The group had almost passed where I was sitting, before i remembered that I wanted to take pictures. :-).

It was an interesting wedding with parts of it done in the Akwa Ibom dialect and parts done in Igbo. I admire people that marry outside their tribe. Aside from the love the couple have for each other, I think it takes a whole lot of courage too, especially if you do not understand your spouse's language. Using myself as an example, even though i grew up in Lagos, I can't speak Yoruba. *covers face in shame*. I understand a bit of the language, but that's about it.  So imagine if I were to marry a Yoruba guy, I would feel kindda weird if we visit his people or friends and they are gisting in his language. Oh well, yeah, I know i could always learn it and all that.

My sister is married to an Edo man and i sometimes ask her how she feels when they are in the midst of the hubby's people and they are all gisting in his language. She just shrugged and said it's not that bad and she is also learning the language, but in the meantime, once they remember that she doesn't understand, they quickly switch back to English. :-). I think that's really nice of them ooo. :-)

I wish the couple: Emem and Okezie a fabulously blissful marriage.