Tête en bas

[yes, I’ll be blogging in english for a little one. Do have a couple of good reason for that 😉 ]

We first met Jesse and Riz in december, while we were looking for couches around Melbourne. Jesse was supposed to host us for 3 days, but it finally becomes 5 when we had the bad luck with the van relocation. We definitely enjoyed the time we had with them, and were really happy when we heard, coming back from Tasie, that they were engaged, and getting married soon. And even more happy to be on the guest list! You dont’ always as this opportunity to attend a wedding in a country you’re visiting. And it’s even more uncommon when the bride is from Bengladesh. We were both looking forward this international/intercultural wedding.

I took the train to Ballarat, and take a rental car there, pick up Iris, and we were on the road. Let’s keep it simple: there’s absolutely nothing to see when you’re driving south of Ballarat. No reason to stop, or to take your time. We arrived in a lovely little farm, in a middle of nowhere, one hour later. The groom has warned us: in Bengladesh, white is for funeral, and black is bad luck. The idea was to be colorful. Thanks to Bali, I had some red shirt with me, which is definitely unusual…

Jesse was there to welcome us. As he knew we didn’t know anyone, he quickly introduce us to a few friend of him, before disappearing in order to get shaved and dressed. I don’t know if he picked up the first few people he met, but they were definitely really friendly, and we end up spending most of the wedding with them. As usual, don’t ask me to tell you there name… might have been introduced to to much people at the same time!

Like in any wedding, the ceremony started later than planed. And like in any wedding, guests had some “amuses gueule” in order not to start a riot while waiting.

And like in any australian wedding, there was already profusion of wine and beer.

The groom finally come back, ready to welcome his bride, with a great looking in his outfit. Jesse have been traveling a lot on the last few years, going to Bengladesh most of the time. He has been studying their traditions, their customs, for quite a while, as a part of his thesis. The funny thing is that after traveling so many time to Bengladesh, including Riz hometown, they finally met at Monash (Melbourne University).

And then come the bride. While walking down Melbourne and Sydney streets, we’ve seen quite a lot of wedding. Wedding seems to be part of Australian daily life and attend a wedding every other month. All the bride were wearing those fluffy white dress that make them look like a kind of dessert full of cream… Riz, all in red and all in smile, was just awesome.

Compare to a bengladeshi wedding, when the ceremony is supposed to last 7 days, they kept it very short. And sweet. And lovely. They just took three different ceremonials from the bengladeshi tradition:

– usually, the groom is supposed to first meet the bride at the wedding. And the very first time he saw her, it’s supposed to be through a mirror that his future wife is holding, and he has to describe what he is saying. For this one, Jesse cheated a little, as he just said two sentences. I didn’t understand the first one. The second was “she is a goddess”.
–  then, they give each other a piece of sugar, symbol that they will always provide the other with what he or she need.
– and finally, shared a flower collar, which I didn’t really understand the really complex symbolism.

Unfortunately, that the moment my camera decide to run out of battery. I’ve been traveling for so long with a spare battery, that I’m not used not to have one any more…

And then, everybody move to the giant tent, in order to have some food. And more wine. And beer. Fried rice with chicken, lamb on grill, and an other kind of rice… very tasty food from bengladesih, but just slightly spicy, to please australian tongue.

I haven’t been to a wedding for a very long time, and that was definitely a nice experience. We had a couple of speech at the end, but nothing stupid, no nonsense. Just those who can give you a very nice feeling. Some emotional, not to much, with a nice conclusion from the groom and the bride.

There was the possibility to camp on the farm. But we were really tired, looking for a real bed, and Ballarat was not so far. We just drove back, in the quietness of the night…