The Isaan Wedding 3
- art58koen
- 7 hours ago
- 3 min read
Next was a very local part of the ceremony in which Peter Pan had to take off his shoes and socks.
A special large stone covered by a banana tree leaf was put in front of Grandpa Cafe, on which Peter Pan had to stand.
What followed next was a ‘one small step for man (to get married), a giant leap backwards for woman (and the feminist movement)’ as Tinkerbell had to wash his feet!
Previously, I’d told The Hermit that she actually had to lick the groom’s feet clean, which he almost believed for a second. Whether washing or licking, it was pretty obvious to most of us that Tinkerbell was not enjoying this part at all.
Not surprisingly, we thought it was hilarious!
Now, finally with clean feet, Peter Pan was back inside Grandpa Cafe, ready for the last part of the ancient rituals.
She was holding up a chicken bone, ripped from a recently slaughtered bird's throat!
If the bone wasn't deformed, the marriage would be successful...
Apparently, it wasn't, therefore everything would be fine for the young couple!
TDEP's facial expression shows clearly how impressed he was with this part of the traditional beliefs...
Bride, groom, and parents had to suffer the old crone’s checking of the ‘payment’ to TDEP and Guinevere.
She obviously relished doing her part and made a big show out of counting the bills by rearranging and folding them over and over again.
At one point, I swear I saw smoke coming out of TDEP’s ears; the old witch didn’t realize how close she was to being beaten to pulp.
From my photographer position, I observed in amazement how another old local lady was slicing off pieces of a pig's head that was covered in flies and dumping them in a plastic bag.
Luckily, after a while, the old wise woman had run out of ways of messing about with banknotes and declared that everything was in order.
Everybody’s mood immediately improved considerably!
The next part was easier, two boxes containing the rings were placed on the spread out banknotes.
Tinkerbell and Peter Pan gave each other one and put these on their fingers, all fine.
The old witch sprinkled flower petals over the banknotes and indicated that TDEP and Guinevere had to do the same.
Tinkerbell and Peter Pan were then instructed to grab as much money as they could, and not surprisingly, the bride collected the most.
This meant somehow that Tinkerbell would be the leading party in this marriage, again something we already knew from the beginning, no need for ancient nonsense!
All the money was put together on the traditional cloth, folded together, and given to Guinevere, who immediately ran away with it.
She wanted to lock it up in her safe before the local wedding guests asked to 'borrow' it...
The last part consisted of parents, family members, guests, and assorted locals to wrap a white cotton thread around the couple’s wrists for good luck, mumble some words of encouragement, and fork over an envelope with cash.
Of course, this took considerable time, partly because the old crone insisted on supervising this as well.
Anyway, eventually this finished too, and after a number of family photo shots, the whole affair was DONE!
High time to escape as the dreaded sound system pickup was driven up to the tented area and started destroying the guests' sense of hearing.
As alcohol was flowing liberally, nobody seemed to care very much.
Being a bit more sensitive (and sensible?) than everybody else, we made our way back to The Hermit’s house.
Here we sat outside, enjoying the breeze and a very decent bottle of wine, celebrating TDEP’s daughter’s wedding, the fact that he had survived it, and, more importantly, he hadn’t murdered anyone.
Mission impossible accomplished!
Note that all participants' names have been changed to protect the innocent as well as me from getting my ass sued off...
