If you’ve been reading my blog, then you’d know that the first week in my permanent village, I went to a Samoan wedding. I went to another wedding last weekend. I was really excited about this one because I was personally invited. I invited my friend Kiri as my “plus 1.”
The morning of the wedding, she arrived to my house by bus. I made breakfast, and then we got ready. My host parents told us that they weren’t going to the ceremony, only the reception. As we were waiting for them to knock on my house door, to tell us it was time to go, we noticed a line of vehicles driving down the road outside my house. It was obvious that the cars had just left a wedding. A few moments later, the cars were driving in the opposite direction, and parked in the area where my house is located. It turns out there was some kind of wedding event going on at my host grandmother’s house. I’m not sure what it was exactly, so I will say that it was a wedding reception pre-party. It was great fun, filled with ice cream, cookies, fruit salad, music, and dancing, of course! At the pre-party, the bride and groom had their first dance together. Then my host dad told Kiri and me to go outside to siva (dance). We started dancing, and before we knew it, we each had a dance partner: I was dancing with the groom, and Kiri was dancing with a groomsman.
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| My host cousin Natia and me |
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| The bride and groom's first dance |
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| My host dad lifting the bride |
The reception: It
was located a few villages from mine. It was very similar to the first wedding reception
I attended, except no alcohol was present because the couple is Mormon. Each
attendee received a lot of food; there was music and dancing. Then it was time
for the wedding party to distribute cake. What I learned/was told from the
first wedding reception: In Samoan wedding receptions only important people
receive cake. The recipients of cake are the pastors/priests, village leaders,
matais, and other special guests. Guess who received cake? If you guessed me,
then ding, ding, ding, you’re correct! The announcer was speaking fast, in
Samoan the entire time, so I was only able to pick up portions of what he was
saying. Then I heard “Pisikoa” (Peace Corps Volunteer), and the next thing I
knew, a bridesmaid was heading in my direction, with a giant piece of cake. It
was a nice gesture, and definitely made me smile.
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| Beautiful Maid-of-Honor dress |
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| Cake! |
I’ve only been
in Savai’i for 5 weeks, and have already been to two weddings. I’m guessing I
will be attending plenty more weddings, over the next 22 months.
In this wedding, you will sense the kind of tradition and culture that Samoans have – from the reception, to the food, to their dresses, up to the dances performed. Samoans consider it as a big social event in their lives, so they make sure that the celebration will be grand, entertaining and fun for everyone.
ReplyDeleteNeva Modzelewski