So last night I decided to pull out this...
and get to work!
I also did a bit more research on the interwebs...
and according to Google, Sudanese brides...
- usually hibernate at home with their female relatives for a least a month leading up to the wedding. During that time they are scrubbed, massaged, "smoked", pampered and transformed for the big day.
- are decorated with henna and scented with perfumes and incense which the women may gather to make and apply at perfume and/or henna parties.
- wear red for good luck
- sometimes learn up to 100 dance steps or routines, which they then perform in front of a large group of women. This bridal dancing, or Sobheya , may involve as many as four costume changes.
- Dokhan (the getting smoked part) is a tradition where, every day for at least a month, the bride-to-be spends a bit of time wrapped in a tent-like robe while seated on a special chair over burning Taleh (fragrant ember-wood) in order to make her skin glow, among other things.
Hurray for the Super Bowl!
Is lovely Areej going to get the time off for all of this preparation? Thank you so much for educating us!
ReplyDeleteWell, there's no way she's getting a month off from grad school. She's in bio-chemistry and you can't walk away from research projects for that long! I just pray nothing comes up to make her miss her own wedding! Meanwhile, I'm having a blast with my research. Next up -- the tea ladies of Khartoum!
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