These past few weeks I've been preparing for my friend, Ana's, wedding last weekend. She asked me to be her bridesmaid! So it was so great being able to experience what an Indonesian wedding is like. Last week I put together a bridal shower for her and all her friends. She wanted to have it at my apartment. But when she gave me the list of people to invite there was no way 30 people were going to fit in my apartment. Anyways, I did all the traditional American wedding shower games. Everyone loved it, because it was all so different for them. It was great to see them have so much fun at American games.
The wedding was last Saturday. The festives started early! Ana left for the Salon at 3:00 in the morning. I went with her aunt for my makeup at 4:30 in the morning. It only took a totaly of 30 minuts for my hair and makeup to be completed! After I was already changed and ready to go, I helped the family prepare for the "pre-ceremony" party.
Ana and the groom, Albert, are Batak. Batak is a type of Indonesian race. Batak's tend to be darker skin, loud and out-going and expressive type of people. As opposed to Chinese-Indonesian, or Javanese-Indonesian, which are more quiet and reserved. The Batak culture has thier own religion as well, it is a type of Christianity. Both Albert and Ana come from Batak culture. This made the wedding a lot easier. In Indonesia, typically you marry within your own race. It is looked down upon if you marry outside of your race. (I have another friend who's getting married next weekend she is Chinese-Indonesian, and the groom is Ambonese. The brides father refuses to go to the wedding and she had to beg her mother to come.)
Also, by law, in Indonesia you are not allowed to marry unless you are of the same faith. So a Christian is not allowed to marry a Muslim etc. (even if they are not practicing thier religions). On every birth certificate the religion of the baby is recorded. Babies are named what ever religion they are born into. So if your mom and dad are Christian, then atomatically the baby is Christian. You are not allowed to change your faith until you reach adulthood. Then you have to supply proof to the government that you have changed your faith. So for example, in our church, when someone gets baptized we provide them with a "baptism certificate," which is signed by the minister and then given to the government. Then when you get married, you must bring your baptism certificate (or whatever proof you have of your religion) to the goverment in order to receive a marriage certificate. They must make sure you are marring of the same faith. Its quite interesting.
Albert and Ana are both from my church, they no longer practice the Batak religion. But both of their families do practice it. So before the wedding ceremony, Ana and Albert took part in the traditional Batak practices. So before the actualy ceremony held at the church, the brides family puts together a feast (this is what Ana's aunt and I were up so early preparing for). The entire family on the brides side comes to the brides parents house. But in this case, Ana's parents have already passed away so her aunt and uncle took on this role. I think there were probably about 50 people from her side of the family at the house. Then the grooms parents and everyone on his side of the family arrive at the brides house. At this time before any of the grooms family enter the house, the eldest member of Ana's family (and the parents of the bride) receive a greeting from the grooms parents and eldest member of the family. They exchange some words (I'm not sure what they said, it was in Bahasa) and shake hands, then the parents present the groom to the bride. The bride pins a corssage on the groom, and the groom gives the bride her boquet of flowers. Then the bride and groom, along with the groomsman and bridesmaid, stand at the entrance of the door to the house, and welcome (shake hands (kiss on cheek for women) with all the people in the grooms family entering the brides house. Then the brides father (in this case uncle) says a prayer and everyone eats the feast. After everyone eats, both families stand in a circle, with the bride and groom. They sing some Batak songs and the father of the bride says some words (I'm not sure what). Then the father of the bride prays for the bride and groom and the new family (at least I think that's what they prayed about) and we all process out of the house in to the cars to go to the church for the ceremony.
The bride and groom have a wedding car that they ride in with the groomsman and bridesmaid. At the church, the ceremony was a typical wedding ceremony very much like an American one. But the minister seemed to talk to long. And then when I looked at my watch it wasn't any longer then most weddings. So I reasoned that it took so much longer to me, because I didn't know what he was saying. :) After the ceremony everyone went to talk in the hall, while they set up for the reception.
The bride and groom and the groomsman and bridesmaid make special appearence into the reception area. First, Batak dancers process into the room and do a dance for the guests. Then the bride and groom, and groomsman and bridesmaid follow the dancers. We had to dance the Batak dance into the room. Everyone got a kick out of me (a white person) in the traditional cloths, with the traditional hair doing a traditional Batak dance. They thought that was a sight to see.
The rest of the reception was much like an American reception, with a toast and tossing of the boquet, etc. But it was so much fun. They sure know how to put together a party. Not only was there dancing but there was also kareoki! The bride and groom kareoki to the "Greatest Love of All." There is a Batak dance that has all the same moves as the electric slide. So of corse I did that dance with them (because I knew it) and they were amazed that I knew a Batak dance! Ha! I tried to tell them that its the "Electric Slide," but they didn't seem to understand. :)
After the reception, the bride and groom were the last ones to leave the party, making sure to greet and thank every single last guest for coming. I was so inspired by thier hositality and gratitude the entire time!
So all in all, it was a wonderful wedding! I was exhausted by the time I got home!
