Wanci Marriage Mart
Beez Neez now Chy Whella
Big Bear and Pepe Millard
Tue 9 Aug 2016 22:47
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Wanci Marriage Mart
   After a long wait by the quayside we
were bundled into various cars and minibuses. The long column of vehicles then
sat outside the Regent’s house, apparently he is flying in. Some time later we
are told he cannot make it and on we go. Out of the vehicles we walk down a
dusty, lumpy track – all of a sudden we are on a field with an explosion of colour. We are led to our seats finding a
lunch box containing a water and a cake.
  Young
ladies, mostly in yellow sit on two sides of the field.
  To our right the important people, Mrs Regent representing her husband, to
our left the elders and men. We listened to a long
speech and then a group of young men stood and took
the Pledge of Allegiance. Many more speeches with the odd sentence from our
interpreter. Many uniforms appear and shake hands with the elders – including an
albino.
 The first set of
dancers.
 The second,
younger group are really good, led by a strict ‘caller’ (second left) who
gave the word and they flicked their heads in a lovely move.
  A table with a
blue cover was formally placed in front of the Sailors (as it said on the
back of chairs). Uncovered, our lunch but to our
unpractised hands, much toppled and caught. Then crowds descended and soon the
platters disappeared.
   Then the event of the day. It began
with the mothers who want to show off their single
daughters forming a parade, some fearsome looking women who would make cracking
mother-in-laws........
     Next came the
daughters, for some this was clearly not their first turn on the parade
ground. Some were clutching bottles of Sprite and Coke, some coconut juice, only
one cup and no tissues.......Later, the brave took the offered cup and handed
over a donation. Three times the ladies walked around, lots of singing and
giggling.
  The mothers then
shouted out the fact that their beautiful daughters were ready to be
viewed and the young bucks made their initial ‘fly
by’. Shouting and harsh sounding words we took to be the mothers laying
out the rules before the young bucks retreated to consider if it was worth
pursuing the ‘light of their life’.
   At this point there was a lot of
milling about, young lads posed, we had our pictures
taken with an endless queue until our cheeks ached
and young ladies plied their single cup wares – Bear found himself holding a
massive coconut and he found me a can of virgin coke.
     We all took loads of
pictures too.
  The young bucks
eventually paraded with gifts on trays carried aloft. Clearly, they
thought the young ladies were worth trying out for under the watching gazes of
the elders. The structure in the middle was a huge swing, the finale to the day
would be when a ‘real match’ had taken place and the newly engaged would sit on
the swing together.
 Most gifts were scarves, cakes,
sarongs but one sensible young man proudly held a cooked
chicken, resplendent in cling film and blue tinsel.....
  A busy journalist
interviewed Sarah (Soul) and then an
animated piece to camera.
 There must have been a match as the
crowd surged toward the swing and we heard much cheering and clapping.
Meanwhile, Bear was in a group posing with a couple of
elders.
 Soon the event was in full swing and
we were led back to waiting cars. Sunset was more a lights
out, disappointing after the last couple with blazing reds and oranges. A
few games and time for bed.
ALL IN ALL A COLOURFUL
BUSINESS
VERY DIFFERENT AND GOOD
FUN |