A Lono wedding

It's nice to have a Saturday at home to catch up on blogging. Last weekend was a full one, traveling twice to the village for a big wedding in our adopted Lono family. "Peter", one of the older sons married a young lady from a nearby village.

Lono weddings are a lot of work, as the family and neighbors put on two feasts in two days, in enormous proportions. (I figured they served as many as 600 people total). Saturday eve was the "mandi badak", literally translated "powder bath", a blessing prayer service for the groom and bride in their own homes. (They are patted with baby powder, for beauty, and decorated with henna paint.) Cakes and coffee are served. (My chocolate cake made an appearance, cut into 60 plus bite size pieces).

The guests went home and the family stayed up through the night, butchering a cow for beef curry, cutting up chickens for other dishes, preparing the massive meal for the 300+ guests to arrive the next day. Sunday morning, the meal was served at our house (elaborate weddings would include accompaniment of gongs, dances, and children’s drum troupes). Needless to say, no one was looking very perky by the time one o'clock rolled around, when Peter made his grand appearance from a closed room and was ushered out of the house on his friend’s shoulders to make his way to the bride’s house. (Traditionally, the groom would be carried on a horse or mobile platform to the bride’s house. This weekend, the oldest brother’s black double cab Nissan did the job).

Sam and Abe boys handled the weekend really well. Samuel decided he would like to sit up on his own (for the first time), and made great sport of displaying his newly acquired skills on the brightly colored rugs of our host home. Abe enjoyed wrestling and chasing his village cousins. Mark and I got lots of Lono language practice visiting with friends and guests (Mark was given the job of official “greeter”, welcoming guests who arrived for the festivities). At one point, I needed Mark’s help and called to him from our host family’s porch to the tents where he was standing below. A guest noted that it was rude in Lono culture to call one’s spouse by his first name. hmm… this is good to know. So the rest of the weekend afforded me an opportunity to learn an appropriate term of address for my hubby. Seems that most wives call their husband “sayang” (“love”), or “ayah” (“father”). Of course, I could call Mark “honey” as I often do, but that wouldn’t necessarily grab his attention in a crowd. He thought I could just call him “master” (smile) but I thought “honeybuns” might do the job. Just the word for a shout across the coconut grove. :)

We made a quick exit (of course exits with a baby and toddler are never quick) after the groom got to his car to join the processional to the bride’s house--in another village, in a location unknown to us. So we rush to the car and Abe decides he wants to get into his car seat by himself (“sewf”, he says). As he’s taking his sweet time, the last cars are exiting our view. Then he makes a wonderful discovery… there are letters on his car seat cover that he's never read before. He decides to share his finding with his parents. “G”! “N”! “I!”… he reads all the letters on the warning label with pride. And while we’re pleased with his intellectual prowess as of late, we’re wondering why he had to choose THIS MOMENT to embark on this discovery. Well, the end of the story was that we finally did drive away and find the groom’s processional. Both boys were blissfully asleep for naps when we arrived at the bride’s house, so Mark went on his own to greet the bride and groom (and capture a few photos) while I stayed with the boys in the car. We pray this will be the beginning of a wonderful new life for Peter and his wife, and that they’ll find the One who brings true peace and joy in this journey.

Pictured: the mandi badak and wedding couple; our village brother with a chain saw, cutting a special palm used to make bamboo shoots as a vegetable dish