Saudi Wedding Party

Last weekend I had the pleasure of being invited to a Saudi wedding party. Although, it was much different from the kind of celebration I'm used to, and although, I hardly knew anyone there, I had a nice time. Unfortunately, I'm having  technical difficulties with my camera, so inshallah, the photos will be forthcoming in the near future.

I was invited to said party by a Saudi gentleman I had met the week before. He had invited our mutual friend, my colleague, a Jordanian, and extended the invite to me.

The party took place on a sizable compound, which was presumably reserved for such occasions--or more accurately, one half of it. The other half was reserved for the female attendees. I was admittedly under dressed, but even had I  worn nicer shirt and pants, I would still have felt so, because the Jordanian and I were literally the only two people there not wearing thobes. A thobe, for those of you who may not know, is the Saudi equivalent to a suit. It's basically a robe with sleeves and a collar. They are usually white, and worn with a checkered scarf called a gutra, which is worn on the head.

Upon arriving, we were obliged to shake hands with about twenty gentlemen in a line. These were the closest relatives to the bride and groom. It was a little nerve racking, but their attitudes were either of boredom with the process, or genuine delight--not disdain for an infidel interloper, as was my worry.

The Jordian and I met our friend briefly and then sat down in a large hall, where we met an elderly man named Mohammad. I introduced myself, and chatted the best I could with my smattering of Arabic. He was a very pleasant fellow indeed. He taught me a few Arabic words, and told me a bit about himself. Amazingly, the man had nearly twenty offspring!

We sat (on the carpet) for about twenty minutes, chewing on dates, and sipping Arabic coffee and tea, the food came out: a colossal plate of rice and goat (or lamb, I'm not exactly sure) meat, which was shared by five of us. We were able to get through about two thirds of it. The rice had been boiled in fresh broth and it was delicious. The meat was excellent. We ate with out hands in true Saudi fashion.

After the meal, we sipped tea, and socialized for a while, and I met a Saudi fellow, who has spent some time in Vancouver. He was a nice guy, and he spoke English fluently. After half and hour or so we went into the main area of the hall, where, most of the guests had already gathered in a large circle. Drummers were drumming, and and singers were singing. At intervals, guests would run into to the middle, jump high into the air and spin in a circle. As they continued to spin, on the ground, their friends would come into the center with them and everyone would clap rhythmically as they spun.

After some time, a man produced some scimitars, and there was dancing and parading about with those. It was very...phallic.

It was an interesting cultural experience, that I was glad to take part in. However, I can't help but thinking it was lacking a certain crucial element of wedding parties--female interaction! Well...that and booze, although I imagine certain parties may have taken part in the latter, behind closed doors, after the public event.