While in Asia I had the opportunity to go to a traditional Javanese wedding. A typical wedding hosts between 300-500 guests; a small wedding is 100 and a large wedding party is 1,000. Talk about a party, right? Music fills the area throughout the night and there's always something cooking.
Of course, the details that I will give below are from memory the day after; also, every wedding is probably different so I might be totally inaccurate in what the tradition is/stands for.
At the actual ceremony there were around 30-40 people there and then some 250 came for the food and fellowship time. Just like any-other wedding, its all about fellowship, eating, shaking hands, signing the guest book, giving a gift an going home. What is different about a Javanese wedding is that there are several other special traditions and rituals that take place, many of which I don't understand but maybe will know one day!
On day #1 there is a pre-ceremony where there is a ceremonial washing and the boxed food invites are prepared and sent out to the neighbors. (See the picture above) They were nice enough to let me help snip some greens and chat a little about the traditions and what they were cooking.
(a) The parents of the bride come out with a palm-woven banner that they put above then entrance to the ceremonial area. Then they hung on both sides of the entrance, 2 coconuts, rice, & bananas which all symbolized different things.
(b)The bride and her parents come out and are announced (in the Javanese language there are 3 levels, and this announcer speaks the highest and talks during everything). The bride has a seat.
(c) There are 7 jars of water from 7 different springs throughout the area and they are combined into a basin with flower petals and 10 family members and neighbors pour 3 individual spoon full's of water on the bride's head, shoulders, hands, and feel. After the 3rd person, the bride is drenched and the water tries to slip into her eyes and mouth... bless her heart.
(d) The parents take a clay tea pot and break it.
(e) Parents pick up the bride.
(f) Parents feed a bite of everything off of a plate and give her a drink.
(g) Then the parents take a bowel filled with some of the same water and petals and bury it in the dirt by the side of their house.
(h) Many of the guests receive a clay coin which they use to pay for a drink given by the parents that you receive once giving the coin to the mother and shaking the father's hand. The drink that they gave was definitely coconuty and had some sore of wormy-jelly-like things in the bottom; it was amazing but super sweet.
(i) Following all of those rituals is food... of course!
My friends that I stayed with are neighbors/good friends with the mother-of-the-bride (MOB) so I had the privilege of seeing the bridal party getting ready and getting some up-close shots of everything! Tomorrow I'll write about the actual wedding. Here's a picture of the lovely bride!
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