Is she a Nama lady??

Guys, I’ve made it.

I’ve made it hard.

Someone asked last night if I was Nama.

But I digress - the occasion was actually the point of this blog post.

There was a Nama wedding celebration last night. It was for the brother of a friend of mine, and Jenita, Lily and I were invited to attend the celebration.

It was awesome – we got to get dressed up in Nama clothes!

The actual wedding was in Windhoek last week, but this was the traditional Nama wedding/celebration. When we got to the house where the wedding was being held, we were invited inside to sit with the elders. It was a huge honour and we are still not sure why they allowed us!

After a few minutes, the actual ceremony began. Some of the elders began to dance outside of the traditional hut, and the groom escorted the bride out of the hut where they must stay (per tradition). Her head and face were covered with a towel, so he had to lead her. They danced the traditional dance with the elders for awhile (which is really impressive given that she couldn’t see anything!!)

After the dance, we all went back inside the living room, where the bride and groom were seated at a table. An elder led a short prayer and ceremony, and the groom’s sister uncovered the bride’s head.

Each elder was given an opportunity to speak. We couldn’t understand any of the blessings since they were in the Nama click language, but we are told they were very beautiful, inspirational and wise. The groom, when it was finally his turn to speak and thank everybody, was really sweet and switched to English for a minute. He informed us that the elders had been blessing the new couple and passing on their knowledge as 2 they could. He also thanked us for attending and for trying to follow their culture (wearing traditional dress, etc.).

When the ceremony had concluded, the ladies from the family served the food they had prepared ahead of time. Then the younger generation (kids and the young twenty-somethings, us included) escaped outside to dance for awhile. Eventually, the elders and the new couple prayed again and all the extras slowly left.

It was such a great honour and experience to be able to witness such a wedding! Even my friend Elden said he had learned from the ceremony, because these traditions are not often followed anymore. A great learning experience all around!