Again this entry is being posted several days after the event occurred due to Internet access.
We arrived in Bulungula on the Eastern Cape today - a small village tucked into rolling green hills on the coast with the Indian Ocean to the east. Before we had even checked into our Xhosa style huts our guide Stephen announced that there was a wedding in the village and we were all invited. Whenever there is a wedding or any such event it is assumed that everyone in the village is invited without the need for formal invitations. So off we marched over several hills to the house where the wedding was taking place.
When we got there a large group of people were gathered around outside. There was music and drums and women, men and children performing traditional dances in the middle of the circle while others watched. We stood and watched in fascination for a while joining in with clapping to the beat. Many of the men were in the kraal (a fenced in area where the livestock is kept). No women are allowed there and neither are any men who are not relatives. The meat for the wedding feast was being cooked on an open fire in the kraal. Because our boys were guests they were allowed inside and Donato ended up chatting with several men and conversing about their lives and what they do.
We were then told that we were invited to visit the bride who was in her home . We all crowded inside the hut and immediately a group of women who were lining the back wall of the hut turned their faces and covered them with a black scarf that they wore over their heads. We then found out that the bride was 'hidden' among them; they were all dressed identically.
The chief of the village entered and chose Isabella to ask his mother for permission for our group to be there. The chief's mother asked some questions about where we were from. There was a mat on the floor with a big pile of freshly butchered sheep and cow. Donato was invited to help cut the meat and we were given some as a gift. We then went back outside and our guide and a few of the men cooked the meat on sticks on an open fire. The chief came and joined us and we stood around and talked and ate until it was finally time to go back.
It was a once in a lifetime experience - to be part of such an intimate and meaningful ceremony in another culture, not just as observers but as participants. We were so fortunate to have stumbled upon this event which of course we couldn't have planned for.
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