More on the wedding

The wedding: (sorry, its pretty long....but culturally interesting!!)
First we went to a catholic church and stood outside waiting for another wedding to get done. When it seemed to us that the other wedding party was finished and gone we went in with the other guests for this wedding and sat at the back as the wedding party was walking in. They all came in at the same time: bride and groom arm in arm. We knew it was going to be a long wedding when we saw that there were chairs for the bride and groom to sit in. It was also very interesting that there were barely any guests. Dave said it was normal for a wedding to start off like that and by the end the room would be full...which is exactly what happened. Throughout the whole service it seemed as if the most of the time the priest was was preparing for communion by reading from the Bible and and saying prayers. There was also a choir singing songs in Kinyarwandan. Half of te time people in te audience would stand up and then sit down again and they would keep doing this all the way through whether the priest was talking or the choir was singing. I dont think there was any rhyme or reason to it and that people just randomly stood and sat when they felt like it. After this whole religious ceremony we had a two hour period that there wouldnt be anything for us to do because e wedding party would be preparing for the reception with pictures and stuff. So we decided to have an adventure and go where Dave had never gone before. He's been wanting to find the top of MT. Kigali to see the city from up there, so we followed a dirt road in the direction we thought we would need to go. HA! That was awesome! We passed people who lived along those dirt roads and they all smiled at us and were excited to see a bunch of Bazungu (=plural of Muzungu= foreigner or white person). When we got pretty close to the top, the kids who were running after our vehicle were shakig their heads and waving their fingers telling us 'no' so we wouldnt go any further...so we assumed there was a military outpost up at the top and we probly should turn around. SO we turned around and went back down....part way down we took a different road down and came down on the other side of the hill (its not really a mountain). That was a ton of fun.
then we got to the reception, which is the coolest part of the day! When we arrived they led us to some seats that were in the middle of the front row. Across from us were places for he wedding party with a square space of about 10 by 7 meters. To the right of this square was the brides family section and to te left was the groom's. I assume our section was for other visitors and extra places for family. We waited for a while and after a while they served us bottled drinks...coke, fanta, water, maracuja (passionfruit). Then when the wedding party entered, they entered with an entourage of traditional rwandan dancers. When the party was seated, the dancers continued to entertain using the square of empty floor in the midst of all the sections. First the women, then they left and the men came out and danced. (there were also singers in the background.) After they danced, the traditions of the Rwandan wedding began. They brought a pot of what I assume to be banana beer out and put it in the middle with a seat on either side. First each spouses grandfather came out and greeted eachother, sat down and took some of the beer through a straw as they had a short conversation. Then the fathers did the same. Later at one point the bride, groom, maid of honor and best man also sat around and drunk from it. Then they also had the cutting the cake part, which resembled the way we do it. After the bride and groom cut it and feed each other they each take some cake to the other spouses family and then the rest of the wedding party serves it to the guests. After the cake part the dancers came back out and did some sort of 'mating dance' because both men and women were dancing, probly to show the life of a man and woman living together. It was very interesting. As they were finishing their choreographed dancing they went up to the bride and groom and got them to come join them on the floor. Then one of the girls also came over to me and invited me on the floor!!! AAaah! I guess I saw it coming though so I wasnt all that surprised and decided it would be polite to accept the invitation. So....I got up and danced with them! I followed on of the girls as she showed me how to do the traditional way of dancing...very interesting!! yes, (to answer the question you all have) someone did take video....no I havent seen it yet and no you cant use it as blackmail cuz I really dont care who sees it. I had fun and thats all that matters! later, the MC came and sat next to me and the first thing he said was "you're a good dancer". LOL! Then he explained the rest of what would happen which was basically members of the family getting up and saying whatever they want to say to the family and then the grooms family went and greeted the brides family at the end and offered them some drinks because "it is time to leave and they have a long journey ahead of them"...coming from african tradition where the wedding happens at the grooms home and te brides family must return home. After this, the family has their own personal traditional reception in the room where the new couple will sleep to introduce them to marriage with a 'drinking milk ceremony". I dont know exactly what that entails because I wasnt invited.
Anyway...thats the short story of the wedding day. Next time I post I will tell about the funeral.