a trip to the synagogue

Is a synagogue appropriate on a Saturday night- never has been

For some reason this was the venue for a wedding of 2 Christians from Ghana and Nigeria. Actually it was the engagement party.
It started that morning where the groom (Enoch) went to the bride's house and started with the dowry- which includes symbolic things- like umbrella to prove he can provide a cover for her and other small symbolic items ( I don't know the rest)

At the party tonight- they were all dressed with authentic African dress, all with gowns and colorful head dresses. A big bunch came in with African music and singing, all dresses like Ghanaian - and dance around all tables in the venue for an hour- then left
Later they came dancing again and all of them had a change of clothing's- this time Nigerian clothing's- don't tell me what is the difference - again I don't know a lot- I know which dress is for which country. And that Nigeria have flat hats, and people from Ghana are less traditional and some came with suits (boring!).

African dance is not what you seen in the movies- actually very similar to 'white people dance'- not much movement, no fancy moves- Alla and I danced a lot and were almost the token white people there we go compliments on our African dance moves- I hope it's not on tape...

We tried African food cooked by American catering so probably not real authentic- but dried, fish , dried goat meat and dried chicken were good
With some unique sides- like rice with a very hot spices, some hardboiled egg (yellow part) covered with some weird dough made from peppers.
Sweat balls of something, and fruits (non African - but strawberries and pineapple are always good).

On the bride and groom during dance- they threw dollars (1$ bills) again and again to symbol the fortunes they will have- the kids would pick the money up, give the elders and they would shower them again- this happened all night long- we said they should have used euro's - you know- some currency with value...
It was strange sitting there with 3 Russians and an Egyptian and wonder why no one understands Nigerian accent.

Later the guest were given gifts- 1 a napkin with details of the event and a picture frame- I don't know the meaning but nice touch

In the end - they all changed clothes for the last time - the bride and groom came in white and it was time to go

Attached are some less quality photos of the event