Sunday, Anne and her roommate Leia from Lewis and Clark University were lucky to have the opportunity to attend a traditional Senegalese wedding! A relative and next door neighbor of their Senegalese family had gotten married and last Sunday and this Sunday were the fetes. In Senegalese Muslim weddings, the ceremony and party/"fete" are at different times. Sunday was the first fete, which lasted all afternoon and evening. All the women wore the traditional Senegalese batik dresses, which are died with beautiful prints in all different colors. Most Senegalese clothing is custom tailored-- at markets like Marche HLM you can pick out your pattern and then bring it to a tailor for fitting. The celebration began around 2pm (no one showed up until 3pm though... Senegalese time). Lunch was only for the women and was the popular ceebujen dish (eaten with your hands). The men went to the Mosquee a Karak and walked back together with some of the Imams and sang a few prayers for the bride. The groom joined everyone and there was a dancing and dinner party at a different house that lasted until around midnight. One of major differences was that in Muslim weddings the families are the most important unions formed... the bride and groom are often not even at their ceremonies. At the end of the night it is traditional in Muslim weddings for all the women to escort the bride to her husband's home where she will spend her first night. Then the next Sunday, another extravagant meal is made and the women escort the bride back to her father's house with her husband where they will actually live. It was an interesting and unique experience!



Above is a part of the religious prayers sung by the men (led by Anne's host father in the middle). The bride is seated to the left, and one of the host brothers is the guy waving to the camera at the end to the right of the screen!