Wedding is a sacred union of two souls for they become one heart and two bodies and also a colorful event marked by display of beautiful clothing worn by the bride groom and all the attending guests. Ethiopian wedding ceremonies differ from ethnicity to ethnicity which means diverse customs and traditional costumes. In this article we won’t get in to any ethnic wedding ceremonies but we will explore the popular type of wedding ceremony that can be seen in urban areas such as Addis Ababa and type of clothing’s worn.
If you don’t mind I would like to continue from the couples I imagined falling in love at Timket celebration and the case of the traditional Ethiopian clothing if you haven’t read the article I recommend you to do so.
So if the boy who have desired a girl who he has seen at timket festival would might make her his girl friend “yekenfer wodaj” in secrecy from her family but once the bride’s family suspects what’s going on she would have to upgrade their relationship status to fiancé or “echogna” or he could face some consequences from her father and brothers.
Once they updated their status to be wedded soon he must sent elder men to her house to beg for her hand in marriage so if the elder men succeed then they will move on to discuss the arrangements of the wedding like where it takes place and the actual date of the wedding.
Once after the above pre-conditions are agreed upon the groom with his best men would bring the dowry they offer night before the wedding day the dowry usually includes jewelry and clothing’s here Ethiopian traditional clothes are also presented along with other gifts for the bride, the brides maids usually asses the qualities if it is up to or not up to the brides tastes. The clothing’s worn by the attendees during the wedding day differs from areas to areas in urban areas it common to see modern clothing among Ethiopian traditional dress being utilized. On the wedding day the groom and his men would go to the brides house to pick her up but this won’t be an easy task because the groom and his men would meet a resistance from the brides brothers and cousins they usually sing they way in or bribe them then they can take the bride to the place where the wedding will take place.
There is a modern Ethiopian clothing style for the bride where its design has roots from the old Ethiopian traditional clothing design which you can see for yourself in our websites catalogues the groom can also be dressed in traditional Ethiopian clothing as for his best men and brides maids the other events that showcases Ethiopian traditional clothing’s is the “melse” an event which is held after the actual day of the wedding this is an event arranged by not the groom but other members of the families at their respective houses attendees on this event are limited to family members and close friends who usually wear traditional Ethiopian clothing its usually a custom that the best men and brides maids are responsible for preparing their own out fits which should be matching in design and color this clothing’s are worn by the “mizés” or the brides maids and grooms best men during all events of the wedding.
The other thing about the Ethiopian wedding is the feast prepared the food is usually consists of meat of different animals except pork like beef, chicken, sheep the beef can also be served raw which another Ethiopian tradition where the raw beef is eaten by dipping it into a special sauce made for this purpose then after its party time people drink and dance to unique Ethiopian musical style called anchihoye its faster than most Ethiopian pop music it’s usually can be heard at wedding and other social festivities.
The other event after where Ethiopian traditional dress could be observed after the wedding is completely over is during baby shower where family and friends of the bride and the groom would bring gifts to welcome the newly born as he/she begins her life in this world. There is also traditional Ethiopian clothing specially made for children which is called “ejetebab” for the boys and girls would wear miniaturized Habesha kemis like their adult counter parts.
