@Bilqees 19 December 2021

Wedding weekends!!!

Hello my lovely pals. Trust you we all are having a splendid weekend. Saturdays are always bubbling with life that I somtimes wonder weather its actually a day to rest. Saturdays are always the focus for social gatherings like graduation party, family meetings, get together party,thanksgivings and ofcourse wedding ceremonies. Saturdays are normally the days set aside for wedding ceremony in my country. The traffic at the city centre is always terrible on saturday more than any other day as almost everyone (both motorists and pedestrians) seems anxious to get to a wedding venue on time. There's hardly any Saturday that comes by without me attending a wedding. Sometimes there might be two to three weddings I have to catch on the same day. Whenever that happens, I would be in a dilemma especially when the two brides are close friends of mine. I would have no choice than to share my time between the two programs and consequently, this would make me awfully enervated by the time I returned home. A relative of mine had her wedding today and as expected I had to go. I wouldn't say I was invited per say. In africa, whenever your friend, sister, brother, cousin, nephew, niece or even a classmate is getting married, you need no formal invitation before you attend. No reason whatsover for your absence would be tolerated since it is a Saturday and you are supposed to have alot spare time. Except you were critically ill in the hospital or you were out of country, only in these situations would your absenteeism be justified, else, you might be called "**envious**"or worse "**enemy** **of progress**". Even if you were residing in a different city ,you are expected to travel all the way to the city where the ceremony is taking place when someone in the family is about to wed. This is always a rare opportunity for you to meet and greet longtime family relatives whom you have never saw since mom brought you to the world. Then after the celebrations, everybody disappears and gets acquainted again on the next future wedding ceremony of another relative. Lol. Once in a while, a tragedy occurs when vehicles conveying wedding-bound passengers get involved in a fatal accident and every body dies. This might be due to bad road networks, overspeeding or carelessness both on the the side of the driver or the passengers. Thereby turning the bliss into a bitter experience. Its quite unfortunate that air transport is not as affordable here as it is in other parts of the world. Ah! I have almost forgotten, as a relative of the bride, we all would have to appear in identical clothes specially chosen by the bride in reverence of her wedding day. This special attire is popularly known as ***anko or aso-ebi.*** Nobody ever gives a second thought whether you are broke or not. You just have to buy the selected dress if you are part of the bride's or groom's inner circle, no matter how much it costs. You are also expected to attend both the church service and also be at the reception party. It is also important that you dance vigorously on stage with the bride and groom in order to prove that you are "**happy** **for** **them**". Why the hell would you be focusing on your smartphone or reading articles on read cash while others are dancing on stage? Are you the chairman of the occasion? Are you the president? You would definitely be tagged "**envious**" if you don't get up and dance like a mad human. While dancing or during the ceremony, you shouldn't forget to take alot of photos of yourself , the celebrants, then post them on your social media pages with a very stirring caption in an effort to show the couples that you "**shared** **in** **their** **joy**" Unlike in europe or asia where sometimes, the invited guests might just be comfortable with wines. Food must be prepared and served in our African weddings. As a matter of fact, any wedding where the popular "**jollof** **rice**" is not served,then the couples should be sued for "**decieving**" members of the public. The food and eating part is popularly referred to as "**item** **seven**" on the list of activities for the wedding. Needless to say more than seventy percent of the guest( mostly uninvited ) have been patiently waiting for this part. Sometimes, an annoying anchor popularly called MC ( master of ceremony), instead of quickly moving to "item seven" would be wasting valuable time dishing out boring jokes when everyone was already tired and hungry The couples and their families would have to makes sure that more than enough food is prepared for everyome to eat to stupor and even take home, else their wedding would not be considered as "big". It is already a known fact that majority of the attendees would be uninvited guests and of course you wouldn't blame such individuals. The economy is quite harsh and " **anywhere** **you** **see** **free** **food**, **eat**". A large chunk of the audience might even be **passerbys** who saw a ceremony in progress, then decided to settle down at the spot and fill their bellies. These particular set of people are normally the last to leave the venue after making sure that they have scavenged for every bits of food that must have been left over by the invited guests. Thank you so much for taking your time to read through. I couldn't write this early enough because I was so tired after returning from a wedding ceremony of a relative. I promise to return to read and drop a comment in all your articles when I wake up again in the morning... To all my sponsors, commenters and upvoters, I shall continue to love you all. 💗💗💗 Yours lovely, Bilqees.