Meakara and Sokunthea announced their engagement on Friday. I was invited. The happy couple are being blessed by family members who tie red string around their wrists and put some money into their hands.
One of the first things to be done is to show respect to the family’s ancestors by placing food and lighted candles on the small shrine up on the wall. All the fruit on the floor is a gift to the ancestors and spirits that take care of the family. When the guests start to go home the fruit is divided amongst them.
The rings are in the red boxes. Meakara and Sokunthea announced their engagement on Friday and a family member then went to a jeweller’s shop to have the rings made and the stones set; they were ready by Sunday morning.
Feeding time. Chicken and veg soup, pickles, beef, a dish I never did identify and delicious bbq’d fish.
The oldest patriarch in the family conducts all the ceremony. This is where he is blessing the couple and sprinkling holy water on their joined hands.
Getting ready to have the red thread tied around their wrists. This was a small family affair with around 40 people present. The families know each other well and are old friends so it was very casual. Some families invite over a thousand people and it’s held in enormous wedding halls.
Cambodian wedding are very casual. People chatter away, even during the religious part of the ceremony. Luckily I didn’t have to sit on the floor as I can’t sit the way the locals do. They have to turn their feet, usually to the right, so that the soles of their feet are pointed away from people. It’s hilarious watching them shuffle along, on their bums, when people suggest changes.
Pre-wedding photos are a must. A friend fromTaiwan is marrying a Thai lady so this is one of a set of photographs they had taken. It’ll be a very elegant wedding but I won’t be there.
If you are young, you end up sitting on the floor to eat. I can sit cross legged for this event but then I’m too far away from the food. Luckily the younger folk take pity on me and spoon food onto my plate so all I have to do is eat.
