Wedding! (Again)

Last weekend I had the pleasure of attending the wedding of my friend’s brother. Like the weeding last year it was a traditional Owambo wedding in the bush. Because the bride is from the Herero tribe a traditional Herero ceremony took place the weekend before at the bride’s village. Owambo and Herero is the two biggest tribes in Namibia and weddings crossing the tribe borders occur but are still many times controversial. In this case for example the mother of the bride had big concerns about the wedding because she was afraid the husband would kill her daughter when he got tired of her; that’s what Owambos do… There are lots of preparations and ceremonies before the actual wedding; approval from the parents, speaking with the elders, announcement in church, etc. During the wedding party big tents are used to accommodate all the people invited, singing, dancing, holding speeches for three days. In this case there was three more days because of the second ceremony, plus a couple of days for pre-parties held the weekend before “to accustom some of the guests to the village”. It’s a whole lotta partying!

The elders play a very different role in the community down here; they are highly respected and are often consulted when important decisions are made. When we visited his uncle, Jerry (the groom) even looked down when speaking with the elder and the air was thick with respect. The elders often stay in the family village together with a couple of younger family members. I feel very ashamed when I tell the people here how we treat our elders at home; locking them away and forgetting them, almost denying that we all will be old one day.

Family village: Almost all Namibians (at least in the black community) have a home village somewhere in the bush. They can be working with laptops in nice suites in the big city but still often visit their “village” located far out in the bush – often with no electricity available. There they help with farm duties as harvesting, cattle care and collecting wood as if it was the most natural thing on earth (which it kind of is…). The village works as a “hub” connecting the family spread over the country. A traditional Owambo village is more like a big house than a village; a fence made of big wooden sticks surrounds a couple of huts and many times a small house made of concrete. Additional “rooms” (without a roof) is created with wooden sticks within the fence, all having their specific use; kitchen, “elder men conference room”, “newly mother room”, “relaxing room”, etc.