Wedding Customs, Part II

So, the last time I was at Moussa and Leila's home, they showed me the album and video from their wedding.

Today, when Cari and I went over, before we left for the hammam, they pulled out a DVD of a relative's wedding done in the more traditional style. This wedding took place in the South of Tunisia, in their families' hometown near Tatooine.

The bride wore a traditional dress, of brightly colored red robes, sonewhat similar to the one in the picture to the right, but more ornate and glittery, and a ton of gold jewelry. In fact, all the female family members there, including Leila, wore these fabulous colorful traditional outfits and were bedecked in gold.

There was a lot of dancing, and a traditional band playing on drums and a eerie-sounding wind instrument that looks somewhat like a recorder, except with an oboe-style reed.

Also, this part is really cool, they had a dancing horse! A beautiful black hissan, trained to prance around with its tail high in the air, and decorated with beautiful bright robes and ribbons.

The entire town is invited to the celebration, and you could see mountains of couscous being served, prepared under a traditional Berber-style tent like the one we slept under when we went camping on the camel trip. The family goes dancing through the streets to celebrate their happiness, and let everyone know about the wedding and the feast.

Pretty cool.