Wedding Number Four

Wedding? Again? Yes, but this time it was different. 

My friend's sister got married. The proccess of getting married for Wgyptian Muslims is a bit complicated so I wasn't entirely sure what was happening while I was there. 

The view from my seat in the mosque's event hall.

Once a couple gets engaged, they have a ceremony called el-Fatiha. Here they read el-Fatiha. El-Fatiha literally means "the opening" and it is the first part of the Qur'an. It's only seven verses long and it asks God for guidance. 

After this, they celebrate the engagement. Usually, either the bride or the groom will pay for this party and the other will pay for the wedding party. 

Qur'an writing on the walls.

Finally, there is the Kitb el-Kitab. This is the marriage ceremony. All the legal paper work is filled out and they have the vows. This is what I went to yesterday. 

Also during this ceremony, there is a part between the groom and the eldest brother. I couldn't understand what they were saying, so I don't know what this part was about. 

After this is a wedding party. There is dancing, food, pictures, and just some great clean-and-sober partying. I have a few posts on this earlier in my blog. ("Party Hard" is the name of the post about my host brother's wedding.)

Chairs for the bride and groom

A very Egyptian thing is called زغروطة (Zaghrouta). It's something women do to celebrate. They move their tongues back and forth in their mouths and it makes a sound. I can explain the sound so I'll just leave this link to a video of it. 

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qhp2ccpbHKM 

In the real way to do it, they move their tongues side to side. I can't do that, so I move my tongue up and down. It's not exactly the same sound, but it works. 

Also, after the wedding party there's a small parade. Everyone gets in their cars and drives around haphazardly. They honk their horns in nice rhythms and shoot fireworks. They hoot, holler, and create general chaos; it's really fun. 

Mosque's event hall's ceiling.

I love Egyptian weddings. Egyptians love to celebrate. Not all Egyptian weddings are like this. It's optional, it all depends on the couple. Christian weddings are probably different, too. 

No matter what I write I don't think I can ever fully explain what a wedding here is like. I try my best with my blog, but some things jut have to be experienced in person. 

Chandelier in the mosque's event hall.

Thank you all for reading. I'll talk to you next time. 

Learn something today. 

Byeeeee

Corie.