Weddings are a cultural activity celebrated in almost all ethnic groups, speaking to the universal impact of marriage on society as a whole. But each culture carries out and celebrates this institution differently according to religion, custom, and tradition. This past week, the owner of our home was getting married and we were able to join in the festivities from beginning to end.  Let’s talk about the preparations first.

The day starts with food prep for the celebration.  Women show up from all around with their knives and other cookware to help with the preparations.  Sonja and our visitors joined in the onion cutting…some of the knives look like they were produced circa stone age (seriously, how do they cut with those things?):

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Good thing one of the ladies brought that wooden ax handle to use as a modified cutting board.  This is a great time for the women to socialize and share what’s happening in their lives.  Children are often left at home, but younger ones might be roaming around the area like this little guy:

The staple of any Chadian meal is millet, so the standard three-rock, tripod fire is started up.

Water and crushed millet grain is added to the pot and stirred to start preparing the millet paste.  This stirring can even become a large group activity (which one of our visitors joined in on):

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Once everything is prepared, everyone sits down for an early afternoon lunch together.  Here is the millet (to the left), along with a meat sauce:

We’ll touch on the 2nd part of the day, which involved the celebration in the next post.buy cialis online next day delivery