a wedding in ghana
I attended the wedding of one of my co-workers/employees this weekend. The ceremony was almost entirely in Twi so I can’t comment in much detail on the event, but here’s a few observations:
- Ghanaian weddings are more like slightly-curtailed church services with a few vows and a little extra cheering. The whole affair was 2.5 hours long. A normal Sunday service is 3+ hours so I guess I should be grateful they kept it brief.
- They fill all this time with lots of singing, some dancing, a band playing, and multiple ministers speaking and quoting scripture at length. This is typical of any church service in Ghana. Yes, it’s lively, but anything over 2 hours seems excessive to me.
- The bride and groom stood or sat at the front of the church for the entire service. The vows and ring exchange only took about 10 minutes, but they had to stay up there the whole time.
- There’s a lot of yelling and joyous bandana waving at the end, which inevitably will bring a smile to your face.
The few messages the minister said in English were pretty grim:
- “Marriage is like a besieged city. Those on the inside want to get out, and those on the outside want in.” This essentially amounts to “the grass is always greener,” but it’s a pretty bleak outlook on marriage.
- “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” This advice was given to the wife who is supposed to serve the husband. Perhaps it’s realistic and good advice given the cultural context, but again, not a super positive outlook on married life.
- “May your marriage be an example to the younger generation.” This was preceded by lamentations about the decaying institution of marriage in the country—which I would argue isn’t a terrible thing. Yes, divorce sucks, but it at least means women now have to option to leave their husbands (which was totally unacceptable not long ago). While arguably a positive message, is it slightly ironic because this was the man’s second marriage.
Overall it was an interesting event, but it made me glad that most weddings I’ll attend in my life will be well under the 1-hour mark.
