Last Saturday, one of my Indonesian coworkers, Helmy, got married in Jakarta. Like most Indonesians, her heritage is part of one of the many tribes within the country. She's Batak ("BAH-tock"), which originated on the island of Sumatra. (You can read more about the Batak culture here.)
The actual wedding ceremony is short and takes place in the morning, but the reception begins around lunch time and typically runs for about 8 hours! (My friends and I stayed for only an hour and a half of that.)
The wedding announcement outside the reception hall
Inside the hall
Decorations at the dessert table
There were HUNDREDS of people at this thing!
I went with my friends Stela and Yuda, and we sat in an upstairs, air-conditioned room with the food.
This was our view of the main floor
with the wedding party in the background.
A close-up view
The band that played loooooong stretches of the saaaaame traditional rhythm every half hour (so it seemed)
With my friend Chrismy, who met us there
and used to teach at my school
Yuda
Stela
We got silverware as wedding favors. Unusual, but useful. :-P
It took us ladies about 2 hours to get home in the halting Jakarta traffic. That, mixed with the heat, gave me a headache,
and I took a much-needed nap when I got home!
No comments:
Post a Comment