In Sierra Leone, there is an old adage that states ‘marade wae de sweet, na from the bachelors eve’. Simply put, you can tell how great a wedding will be from how amazing the bachelors eve is. Unlike Western cultures wherein the groom goes off with his boys for night on the town (that happens sometimes, just on a different day), in most tribes in Sierra Leone the whole family and invited guests converge at the family home on the night before the wedding for a night of feasting, dancing, traditional music and a whole lot of culture. Given that wedding photos are quite personal and out of respect for the couples privacy, I will not be sharing photos of the couple or the wedding ceremony. Here are a few pictures that my sister Wokie and I took at what turned out to be an incredible night….enjoy
The family hired Amie Kallon, one of Sierra Leone’s musical legends, and her dance troupe to perform for the event. They gave an awesome performance which saw even the 90+ year old’s dancing on their feet.
Meanwhile earlier that morning and for the most part of the afternoon, our house was a beehive of activity as we rushed to prepare food on time to welcome our guests. We prepared Sierra Leonean dishes such as plantains, roast meat (aka suya), fufu, pepper soup, etc, etc,etc…
Musu Kaikai