Wedding Drums

I finally was able to attend a wedding here in Burkina Faso and loved the experience. The bride was a teen girl from my family so as a member of the "bridal party" we had a processional from our house in the 'burbs to the groom's house in downtown village. There were about 20 teen girls and women that went and we carried the family's gifts to the bride which included everything she needs for her new kitchen such as pots, pans, plates, utensils, etc. See photo of one of my tiny sisters carrying it all on her head. Other gifts included fabric and clothes. Once outside the groom's family's house, we started singing requesting entrance. I couldn't understand most of the words but it was something to do with peace and welcoming us into the home. The family then responded and we all went in. In the first courtyard were lots of men and boys. We then continued into a second courtyard divided by a 4 foot high wall. This is where all the females were. There were already many people there, probably several hundred.

They started dancing and singing in the traditional Bissa style which includes a lot of booty shaking! Music was provided by dumming done on a big metal basin and a plastic water jug. The dancing and music was very fluid and changing constantly. There was no set pattern but everyone seemed to know what to do. Most of the dancers were in a large circle that rotated with drummers inside the circle providing the beat.

In the outer courtyard there was a dj playing modern African music that often overpowered the traditional singing and drumming but this just encouraged women to sing louder. Later in the evening some women moved over to the "men's" courtyard and danced to the modern music too. It seemed like this was not approved of by many though since at least in village teen boys and girls aren't supposed to hang out much.

At midnight the bride's family took her to the shower area to wash her and dress her in new clothes. This was followed by a processional across the courtyard to her new home.

Throughout the celebration there was lots of special food and drinks including rice, chicken, zoom koom (ginger juice), candy, and coffee early in the morning. I went home about 3:30 am because I had to be at work at 6 am but the party was still going strong. Two of the young women from my family just got home when I as leaving for work.

The next day I was paid 100 CFA (about 20 cents but about the cost of a meal in village) for dancing at the wedding. They said that all the women got paid for dancing at the wedding. Bit different than us giving gifts at American weddings!

I posted several pictures of the wedding. Unfortunately it was hard to get any goods ones since it was the middle of the night. I hear this is the beginning of wedding season here so hopefully I will have more opportunities for making a little money from midnight dancing!