Tying the Knot- AZ Style

This weekend one of our friends and teaching assistants (P) got married, and the other one (T) got engaged!  Add that to the Muslim holiday of Kurban, and it was a pretty exciting weekend.  We didn't get to go to T's engagement ceremony because it was the same night as the wedding.  But we were able to attend P's henna party on Wednesday after school, as well as her wedding on Friday.

The henna party was at P's apartment.  Traditionally, it would only include women in their twenties or younger, but she had invited all the women in her family as well as her fiancé's family.  We started with a delicious dinner her mother had cooked, and then broke out the henna and the Azeri dance music!

 

Some of the highlights of the evening:

·      One of P's friends brought her 11-year-old daughter.  She is studying English and pretty much attached herself to us for the whole of the party!

·       P's future mother-in-law pulling us up from our chairs to dance with her (in the traditional style, which we don't know!)

·       The little 5-year-old boy weaving through everyone's legs hugging the 2-liter Coke bottle I'm pretty sure he wasn't supposed to have.

·       One of the longest conversations we've had with a man we don't work for since we got here- talking to P's brother- I didn't realize how much I'd missed being friends with guys.

·       Being out after dark!  It's apparently something nice girls don't do around here, so we're usually home by sunset every night. 

They gave each of us a bag of henna to mix with black tea at home.  I'm definitely looking forward to trying my hand at some of those cool designs.  Assuming it's not disastrous (and maybe even if it is), pictures will follow!

 

Our new little friend



P draped in the traditional red veil



Colleen getting her henna

 

The wedding invitation said 6pm on Friday, so we met some of the teachers from Rachael's school at the metro station at 6:30.  Apparently arriving actually at 6 o'clock would have been ridiculously early.  We didn't attend the ceremony itself, only the reception.  In form it was much the same as wedding receptions in America.  It was in the details that it differed.  There was a dance floor and live band, for instance, but the music and dancing were Azeri, mostly centering around the hands.  We got up there anyway, but when the videographer zoomed in on me, I may or may not have hidden behind Rachael's back! :)  The dancing was also mostly, though not entirely, separated by gender.  There were dances where P was in a circle of women and her husband was dancing in the middle of a circle of men.  The couple didn't go around to greet all the guests.  Instead, guests came up to the main table to greet them and have their picture taken.  Since the photographer took our picture, I only have a hard copy and can't post it here.  But P was gorgeous!

 

All in all, it was a pretty fun weekend.  I feel so grateful to have been included in such a big event in P's life, since we've only known her for a little under 2 months.  But that's just another example of the amazing Azeri hospitality we've experienced here, which is a whole blog entry in itself!  When I'm able to get the rest of the pictures, I'll add them to the pictures page.  Until then, this is Molly signing off!