An Engagement Party!

After a lovely dinner with the King, Nayab, Georgia and I headed to Amman for Reema’s cousin’s engagement party! It was wonderful to see the members of Reema’s family again who we had dinner with a couple of weeks ago, and to meet more from the other side of her family at the party. When we arrived, we were escorted into a house full of women, while the men socialized elsewhere. The house was buzzing with celebratory females- often the older women would sporadically make this very high-pitched, shrill noise with their tongues- something I would like to learn how to do! While we all talked and ate, the bride-to-be was being made-up. She wore a long, mermaid-like, hot-pink gown with a long, flowing hair-do and a dramatic application of make-up- she looked like a princess, and was truly the center of attention. When she was all ready, we headed to a tent where we all sat in chairs lined up against the wall. The couple walked down the aisle to the end where the groom-to-be presented his fiancé with the traditional array of jewelry. We watched as he gave her a necklace, pair of earrings, bracelet and ring. They then fed each other cake and had their first dance. As the music became increasingly more upbeat, men trickled into the tent and everyone joined the couple on the dance floor. The whole night was amazing- I am so grateful to have been invited to such an important family event and to have taken part in the festivities.