Notes from the Field 2007

Last weekend I traveled to Moshi for a wedding with my friend Mercy. Moshi is located 3 hours east of Karatu at the base of Mt. Kilimanjaro. The bride and groom are originally from Tanzania, but now they live in Minnesota - what a small world! Most weddings in Tanzania are led by a brass band during the ceremony procession, the vehicle send-off, the caravan from the church to the reception, entering the reception, and so on. How can you not celebrate and dance when they play a joyful “When the Saints Go Marching In” as everyone enters the church? People flew in from all over the world to attend this wedding – the U.S., Switzerland, Germany, Botswana, Ghana, South Africa, Kenya, and so on. Everyone in attendance (about 700 people) were dressed to the nines in their finest dresses and suits. Unlike weddings in America, the bride and groom do not kiss at anytime during the ceremony or reception.

The ceremony was similar to what I’ve experienced in the States, but the reception incorporated a couple traditions specific to Tanzania. One tradition is eating goat cake. A goat (in this case there were two) is roasted completely whole and the head is protected from the fire to preserve the hair and facial features. The goats were rolled in on a cart - with their feet and legs tucked underneath their bodies – with leaves coming out of their mouths. The goat is cut, like a cake, and the bride and groom feed each other a piece of goat. Then the bride and groom give a piece of goat to their parents and honored guests. Traditionally, a goat is used as a symbol of the ultimate thank you, a sign of peace, and also as a dowry. When a man chooses a wife he sends the woman’s family a goat and then they know that their daughter is “gone.” The food, including the goat cake, was excellent! They had the usual Tanzanian food – white rice, spiced rice, fried chicken, fried cabbage, banana stew, meat stew, cucumber salad, and fruit. There was also a three-tiered western-style wedding cake, but everyone wanted the goat cake. We all sat in rows of chairs inside the reception hall and outside under a tent with plates in our laps because there were too many people to bring in tables.

A second tradition is the giving of presents. The wedding party lines up at the front of the reception hall to shake hands and give hugs. First, everyone associated with the groom’s side lines up to drop off presents, cards or money in the basket. The guests then shake the wedding party’s hands and the hands of the groom’s family. Then the bride’s side lines up to drop off gifts and shake hands with the wedding party and the bride’s family. This is of course all videotaped under a fluorescent light with loud DJ music in the background!

Besides experiencing all the Tanzanian wedding traditions I also got a glimpse of Mt. Kilimanjaro from the reception hall. The “roof” of Africa! Until last weekend it was too cloudy to see Kili, so I was pumped to catch a view of the mountain that consumes 1/3 of the horizon. One of these times I will climb it, hopefully before global warming melts all the snow on the summit!