4.14.2009
kweranga
[tip: view the audio slideshow in fullscreen mode for a better experience]
My reason for going to Africa? Kweranga. It's an introduction ceremony in Tooro culture. Daudi brings "his village" to Kellen's village to ask for her hand in marriage. We travel to her home, after our briefing from Daudi's spokesperson. The ceremony is in Tooro. We listen and smile but don't understand.
We arrive by van and wait for an invitation to "enter." Once welcomed, we come with gifts for the family: green bags filled with clothes and fabric, calabashes, crates of soda and a television and DVD player. We kneel to the elders and walk backward to our seats. A handful of us are invited into the family home where we drink milk from a calabash in unison. We return to our seats. A group of a few hundred face us, judge us and decide to accept us.
music credits:
1 - four bored at the kitchen table in Uganda
2 - same as above, except we used our voices instead of fingers this time
3 - the crowd at Kellen's home
4 - dj music
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4 comments:
sitting in my living room, in the dark, it was easy and amazing to imagine myself in this village instead of st. louis. i can tell you were part of their family and had a good time with this. i hope you like it too.
Haha ... you got to use the living room!?! Woo hoo! I certainly did have a good time. Thanks for looking.
"Now is the time." Amen. That is such good advice on so many levels. Elie, you are so talented. Kellen and Daudi look so beautiful, so happy. That's the way it's supposed to be.
gorgeous... so interesting to see other culture's wedding rituals. several really nice moments in here elie...
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