Wedding at the Boma

Well I don’t personally know either Doreen or Lawrence, but I was sure happy to attend their wedding a few Saturdays ago at Ntchisi Boma. Mr Zimba, one of the teachers at my school is an uncle to Lawrence and as such was the chairperson of their wedding committee. Lots of important things are planned by committees in Malawi and weddings are no exception. As the chairperson, Mr. Zimba was in charge of all of the organizing of the ceremony and reception. He handles the program, the invitations, everything or at least delegated to others on the committee. He invited me to attend so that I could view a Malawian wedding, especially one at a boma (city, main trading center) because they are quite different from those in the village. This was also a good chance for me to meet Mr. Zimba’s entire family. He lives in Ntchisi Boma near the secondary school he used to teach at, so I had yet to visit his home.

I set off on Saturday morning to wait for a bus or hitch to the boma. I arrived still early in the morning and was welcomed by Mr. Zimba’s wife, four (out of five) daughters and 10 month-old son. Mr. Zimba was of course busy somewhere preparing for the day. I chatted with the girls and waited until Mr. Zimba arrived and asked me to follow him to the parade of cars going to the church. I got to ride in the front seat of one of the pick-ups carrying guests, behind those carrying the bride, groom and wedding party.

We waited for a while for the ceremony to begin as another wedding was taking place beforehand. The ceremony was performed in a CCAP, Central Church of Africa Presbyterian, church and though I’d never been to this particular building, I’ve attended CCAP services many times before.

The ceremony was much the same as any American wedding ceremony I’d been to before. The only markable difference was in the way the bridal party walked, or should I say danced, down the aisle. There’s no solemn step-together-step to the wedding march, but instead a lively dance to the sounds of an upbeat keyboard. I took some videos with my camera and one day when I’m home I’ll have to post them here so you can really see what I mean. It was really cool, a tradition I think we should take up in American wedding ceremonies. The whole groups, bridal party, pastor, witnesses was dancing. It was certainly more fun than any wedding march I’ve witnessed thus far.

After the ceremony, the bride and groom were taken away in the back of their pickup truck and paraded with the rest of their entourage to have lunch in someone’s home. I had lunch with Mr. Zimba and the organizing committee, chicken, beef, cabbage and rice aplenty!

After lunch we all headed to an outdoor football pitch (soccer field) where the stage, DJ and tent were awaiting us. I sat with Mr. Zimba and his wife throughout the reception. It was much the same as any American reception, with lots of dancing by all. The difference being that in Malawi, you don’t give wedding gifts in the form of kitchen appliances or checks, instead you quite literally throw money at the bride and groom while dancing. The MC called different groups of people through the entire reception to “Perekani Perekani” “Please Give Please Give”. This is something that happens at a lot of events in Malawi. At first I was uncomfortable with the idea of people throwing their money to the ground and showing off how much or little they have to give, but after attending many of these events, I’ve grown accustomed to it. There really isn’t any harm and it’s actually a bit fun to Perekani Perekani, so of course I did my share during the reception.

Unfortunately I had to leave before what quite possibly would have been the best part, the cutting of the wedding cake. As you can see by the pictures it was beautiful and likely very delicious. It however had been a long day and I aimed to be home before dark as it’s unsafe for me to walk to my home from the main road after sunset.

I had a really great day celebrating with Doreen and Lawrence and all of their friends and family! I’m grateful for Mr. Zimba for letting me take part in all of the events and happy to have met his entire family. I’ve posted some pictures from the wedding on my “My Pictures” link for you to enjoy!