My First Wedding

In between the wedding and the reception, which is basically on the way to the reception; I saw this tree beside the church where we parked the van we were sharing with two other couples.

The texture of this old tree, beside this old Catholic Church (see photo below) and just in front of adjoining convent: it looks weathered and the character. It must have witnessed quite a few weddings in its lifetime.

This is my first Australian-Filipino-Lebanese wedding. It was such a treat and an experience seeing a Filipino-Lebanese combination of traditions. On the Filipino side, there was the veil, cord and candle part of the ceremonies.

There is also the coin (Aras) ceremony, which we must inherited from our Spanish colonizers. I can see only the Puerto Ricans doing the same ceremony: which is usually a set of 13 coins carried by the ring bearer and blessed by the priest for good luck and prosperity and given to the bride by the groom.

On the Lebanese (Christian) side, they crown both bride and groom like a King and a Queen, to symbolize that they are King and Queen of their home.

The reception was different as well in terms of food (there's two entree's plus so many food in between courses!). We knew why because there's plenty of community; and to a greater extent, tribal dancing. The bride and groom and their parents are carried on some poor guys' shoulders amid sounds of drum and music. This is much like the Jewish tradition of the bride and groom carried onto chairs called the Hora!


In short, the Church wedding ceremony is as spectacular as the reception. One of the best weddings I've been to, except of course mine! Did you know that the Anglo-Saxon root word of wedding is literally mean to "gamble" or wager... :)


See link: http://www.incommunion.org/articles/essays/reflections-on-marriage