“Hurry, hurry to the Lal Hotel or you will miss something special!” Zerefa rushed in to tell us. We had thought we were to get ready for 6 but, things change like the weather here, and suddenly it was 5 and time to throw on our Ethiopian traditional clothes and grab a fast bajaj into the heart of Woldia town to celebrate the Mels of her nephew. We were not disappointed!
Rushing in, we joined the extended family on the steps of the fanciest hotel in Woldia for the Mels, a traditional Ethiopian ceremony where the family of the bride invites the family of the groom to a big party to celebrate not just the joining of the couple, but the symbolic joining together of the families! The gorgeous couple – groom Medin and bride Mehron (M and M!), both from Ottawa, had officially been married two weeks earlier in a lavish ceremony at the Addis Sheraton Hotel. Now they had come to the hometown of the family, our little Woldia, for their Mels. Many family members from Canada and the US had taken this opportunity to combine their wedding attendance with an extended holiday back in the home country, so there were plenty of friendly, English speaking folks, all enjoying a return to their cultural heritage. Several said they recognized me from reading this blog!
The excited crowd hushed as two decorated horses were led up to the steps; we watched the couple mount them for a ride around the Piazza! What excitement as we paraded through the town center with much singing, dancing, waving of sugar cane branches and men forming circles, brandishing sticks in the air and shouting joyfully!
Local townspeople cheered from the sidelines and some joined in – everyone happy for the beautiful young couple
Zerefa had her hair done in traditional Sheruba for the occasion and was so proud to introduce us to her middle son who had come all the way from Ottawa to join the party!
Eventually we made our way to a huge tented area where the couple were seated on a platform, made lovely with colourful injera baskets and decorations.
Always curious about cooking arrangements, I was thrilled when an older woman took me by the hand and led me to the behind-the-scenes food preparations…
I was in awe of the massive cooking pots!
A whole room was devoted to stacks of injera being rolled and heaped on circular platters by an efficient team of people, doing their best to keep up with the heavy demand.
Next I was led to a room where huge barrels of Tella and Tej (local home brew) were sitting, surrounded by cases of bottles filled and ready for serving to the crowd of several hundred friends and family.
Returning to the main room I found masinko players (wandering minstrels) entertaining with their traditional ballads and on-the-spot songs about the proceedings, as people ate and socialized and little girls looked adorable in their best clothes!
Shelagh and I joined in the communal eating as the servers wandered about heaping on more toppings and passing around what seemed an endless supply of injera.
Zerefa introduced us to her older sister
Then, another delightful surprise – two very attractive matching goats were paraded toward the platform. The bride and groom leaned down to tickle their noses with some branches, to much applause!
After the goats had what seemed to be a kiss, a singer launched into some lively traditional songs…
…and a crush of people joined in the unique Ethiopian shoulder shaking dancing that went on into the night. Shelagh and I are improving our dance moves but there is still a long way to go until we reach the mastery level. Still, everyone appreciates it when we try…
We wish Medin and Mehron a wonderful life. Certainly they have begun it well, surrounded by such communal love and joy!
I do feel sorry for you both, I don’t think!!! Practicing your dance moves indeed! What fun you are having. I look forward to a demonstration of dancing, drumming and my personal favourite, ullulating, when you get back to Vancouver. I just love the sound of that word. We have “car free” day on the Drive tomorrow. Just think, you will miss all that canned music! I say “car free” because the cars are still there blocking Victoria Drive and all the surrounding streets.
What a beautiful couple! And it looked like quite a feast – amazing what can be prepared by experienced hands over open fires.
I love the woven baskets for the injera, they are like tables it seems, and very practical as well as beautiful.
Ulla
This is awesome, thanks for sharing your experience with all the family that did not make it to Ethiopia.
Ishi!
Nice…. nice….nice Beautiful people with Beautiful cultur and tradition….i love Ethiopia thank u for sharing.
WOW its beautiful, thank you for sharing this Ethiopian wedding with Ethiopian culture clothes.