Thursday, December 18, 2008

wedding bells

Hey!! Ok..we are back in Bali, and are now in a town called Kuta. Its is Australian sleazy tourist crazy, and Jonathan would rather be back on the beach in the Gilis!

One of the many lazy days we had on Gili Air we got the opportunity to go to a local Muslim wedding. Our guesthouse owner is originally from Austria and is herself now married to a Gili man. She invited us and some other travelers that were staying at their place, Gili Air Santay, {which has some of the best food on the island if you end up there!!}. She told us to meet at her house at 9am and to dress appropriately...i.e. bikinis and sarongs were a no go. I think I already mentioned to you all how hot and muggy it was on that island, but I sucked it up and wore a long skirt and a top with sleeves to get a chance to be a part of such an event.

The wedding day begins early and all the guests arrive to have breakfast. Breakfast in Indonesia is not really breakfast at all, but rather its like lunch and dinner. Rice, mystery meat curries, wickedly spicy green bean salad, banana curry, prawn chips, and all sorts of other strange foods. I was, and am not thrilled about Indonesian breakfast, but you have to eat and be polite. I loaded up my plate with mostly rice, and some fire breathing green beans. I nearly choked after my first bite, they were so hot!! There are huge tents set up for all the people to sit under and eat. First we walked through the buffet tables, before finding a spot near the massive pile of sandals on the edge of the tent to sit down at. Some of the food, the meat curries in particular had been literally slaved over into the wee hours of the night, as there is no refrigeration to keep the food, so it had to be made as close to breakfast time as possible. In the tradition of Gili weddings there are separate tents for men and women. All the children go with the woman to their tents, but being travelers we were aloud to sit together on the edge of the women's tent.

I was sweating long before I put those green beans in my mouth, and my dewiness factor did not let up, especially after the spiciness. Up until this point, on the island we had not really seen that many local women around. There are about 1000 people that live on the island, and there were at least 500 of them attending this wedding, so it was a great chance to really check out all the locals. The women of course, we covered up and looked miserable in the heat. They all had similar oval pudgy face shapes cloaked in their scarves, long sweltering un-breathable tops and skirts, and simple sandals. Some of the women were a lil dolled up in lace outfits, but they looked just as hot. I really do not know how they do it. I could barley contain my own body heat and my head and arms were out!

The men all had fabric on their heads as well, folded in a very certain manner, but this is for ceremony only, normally they do not have their heads covered up, wherein the ladies always do. The rest of the guys outfit was super simple, a t- shirt, and then a sarong style fabric wrapped around their waists. Besides the head covering difference between the men and the women, the other most prominent difference is body type. All the men, young and old have killer bodies. I mean zero percent body fat, six pack abs, and long lean muscle. They have the type of physic that gym rats would die for. Its really quite impressive, but its testament to their hard working lifestyles as farmers, fishers, and general island living labor. The women on the other hand were all a little round and had puffy cheeks and faces. To see them paired up was kind of funny.

The general skin tones of the Gili Ar inhabitants is either burnt sugar cookie brown, or a ricc burnt sienna. Either way its a burnt tone, also due to island life. Everyone was also very short, the tallest men were maybe my height. The Gili people all have slightly angled coal black eyes, and just as dark hair either thick and wavy or corkscrew curly. It is a very interesting look to say the least. I am sure they all thought I was also bizarre looking too. They do see other travelers, but most other travelers are all lobster red from the sun or too tanned, so my skin tone gleamed in the light there!

After the breakfast, there was a lot of waiting around wiping the sweat from our brows, until finally there was a bit of a ruckus. All the men lead the groom to a different tent that all 500 people gathered around for a good viewing spot. In the tent was the man hosting the ceremony, the groom, and one of his men. The bride too, was escorted by a gaggle of ladies into the tent. She had on a simple but pretty beige outfit, her hair was up and she had a wild silver crown of flowers jutting straight out of her hair in a halo formation. She also had on a sleek silvery blue eyeshadow awash over her angled lids.

The bride went and sat next to her fiance, and neither of then even stole a glance at each other. This was weird to me. The ceremony proceeded, and I stood in the back round people watching and checking out all the hundreds of children running around. There were just so many lil ones, it was crazy, and they were all eating ice cream bars and acting out on sugar highs. I decided to get an ice cream as well, as I figured if my breakfast was more like lunch, then I could have ice cream first thing in the morning too!

When the ceremony ended the bride and groom walked out of the tent side by side, but not touching. I still do not think they had even looked at each other, and this made me sad. They stood and posed awkwardly for some photos and walked off together still not touching. That's a Muslim wedding for you, I guess. Its just that in that religion its not ok to share affection in public....you all know how I feel about this!!!

I was happy when the wedding was over so I could get out of my sweat drenched outfit, but it was quite amazing to get to witness such an intimate affair!

xoxoxox
Alicia Claire

1 Comments:

At December 19, 2008 at 12:57 PM , Blogger vix said...

That sounded very special and interesting as well. I too find it hard to believe that these people stay soooo covered up in the heat etc. It's crazy!

 

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