Peached Whale

We attended the introduction ceremony of our housekeeper’s daughter yesterday. The introduction is typically held a bit before the actual church wedding, but my housekeeper’s daughter was ‘introduced’ in the morning and was then married in the afternoon. The introduction ceremony took place here in Kigali, but the wedding took place in Kibuye, a town several hours away. We decided to fore go the actual wedding.

My housekeeper insisted that I wear the traditional garb of wedding attendees. The attire harkens to the days when Rwanda was ruled by kings. They wore toga-like ensembles of sparkling white cloth, tied at the left shoulder. These days the cloth can be of any color and cottons have been replaced with polyester, rayon, nylon, etc. My housekeeper borrowed one of these for me to wear. It’s essentially a one size fits all model as the skirt is basically a large rectangle of cloth with a drawstring through the top to tie around the waist. The cloth is gathered and bunched to fit smaller waists or drawn out along the string to cover larger waists. I don’t exactly have the heft and bulk of the typical African Mami, so there was a lot of cloth gathered at my waist, ironically giving the impression that I did. The sheer wrap of matching fabric, just another large rectangle of cloth, is knotted at the left shoulder. My ensemble was of a printed peach fabric. Peach is not a color I would ever choose for myself. Needless to say I looked like a “peached” whale! Judge for yourself, see photo. My family is absolutely forbidden from e-mailing me any snide remarks.

It was a very nice ceremony replete with all sorts of traditional gestures that are made back and forth from groom’s side to bride’s side. Unfortunately, a great deal of it was lost on us because we don’t speak Kinyarwandan, but we were able to figure out the basics. There was no doubt, irrespective of the language barrier, about what the woman’s role in the marriage would be when the groom’s family presented the bride’s family with a hoe and the modern day equivalent of a water calabash (yellow plastic 5 gallon container). Farming and water collection are still considered women’s work round these parts!