Kwanjula

Once again we have to apologize for the severe time lapse in posting to the blog.  I wish we could say it’s because our jet set lives leave no time for blog posts, but truthfully, we’ve just been working a ton (Deb in the village & Stu in parliament) that we’ve neglected the rest of our lives.

But all work makes Deb & Stu dull peoples, so we have managed to throw in a bit of fun here and there including attending a traditional Ugandan wedding introduction ceremony, aka a ‘kwanjula’.  Deb’s coworker James is getting married and invited us to his kwanjula.  During the kwanjula, the groom is presented to the bride’s family and village elders and they decide if the groom is acceptable.  So, as you can imagine, it’s a very important event with a lot of fanfare.   About 250-500 people attend and it’s a full day affair.  Each family has a spokesman who guides the family and guests though the specific parts of the ceremony.  Here’s a good example of the different parts of the ceremony which really illustrates the drama and tradition of the event http://www.gandaancestry.com/docs/kwanjula-Apr05.pdf

Deb getting dressed in her kikoy and sash

 

Since we were attending on the groom’s side, it was imperative that we wore traditional Ugandan formal attire; otherwise the groom could get ‘fined’.  So Deb wore a ‘kikoy and sash’ which is a traditional woven cloth about 4 meters in length wrapped round and round the body and secured with a large bright sash at the waist, see photos above (Deb also used some safety pins to secure the kikoy…sometimes you have to modernize tradition).  Stu wore a ‘kanzu’ or a floor length white linen robe under his suit jacket.  Without the suit jacket, he really did look like ‘white Jesus’.  

It was such a great event and we were so excited to be a part of it – and boy did we get involved, especially in presenting the ‘gifts’ from the groom to the bride’s family, like a dowry.  James’ gifts included:

The cow, fridge, chicken, sodas...and side of cow

• 3 cows + 2 sides of cow
• 2 goats
• 4 chickens
• 25 cases of soda
• 400 kilos of rice
• 100 kilos of sugar
• 100 kilos of beans
• Many many fruits and veggies
• Linens and fabrics
• Luggage sets
• Kanzus for all the men in the bride’s family
• 1 refrigerator

Deb carried many of the food products in baskets on her head and Stu carried in the ½ of a slaughtered cow.  At one point we were told that the two ‘muzungus’ (white people) were also gifts, but luckily that was just a joke….we think.

Groom's sisters presenting gifts to the bride under the tent

Groom & Bride

In the end, James was deemed a suitable groom, so now he is preparing for his wedding on 16 July which takes the form of a western wedding (white dress, bridesmaids, bouquets, dinner and dancing).  We are looking forward to attending that event too.  We are told there could be as many as 20 cakes!

Deb's coworkers and fashion consultants: Susan, Miriam & Christine