A Traditional African Wedding

We were invited to attend a traditional African Wedding with Romeo and Irene, our best friends in Douala.  Romeo’s youngest brother was getting married and it was held at Romeo’s parents home.  We have been to their home before and they were so nice to us.  The day after the wedding they had Romeo bring us some cooked fish and plantains for dinner, to show their love to us.  That was after feeding us two meals at the wedding.

When we arrived the relatives and neighbors were busy cooking a huge amount of food in the alley by their home.  The feast would be sent home with the bride’s family as part of the bride price.  These are plantains that are large bananas which they boil or deep fry.  They are a little sweet with a consistency of potatoes when they are boiled.

Jan wanted to help cook, but they told her she would light her dress on fire.  They were very nice to us and let us take all the pictures we wanted.


We did get to help in the kitchen.  We made sandwiches with bread, butter and salami.



We think this is called minindo.  It is a dough that they make and roll in little rolls and then roll it in large leafs.  It is allowed to ferment for a couple of weeks and turns to the consistency of soft taffy and is rubbery.  It has little flavor but the Africans love it.  They sell it on the streets to cars that drive by.


It used to seem so strange to us to be the only white people in a room full of black people, mostly men.  Now we don’t see color anymore.  We just look at each other and say we are really in Africa at an African wedding.  Here they are getting ready for the ceremony.  They all shook our hands and welcomed us.  We all introduced ourselves later in the program.  It wasn’t a whole lot different than our wedding breakfasts in the US.

Romeo asked Sister Gailey to wear her African dress, that was made for her, by the relief society for an activity they had where they all dressed alike.  The ladies did let her stir this pot, but were keeping a pretty close eye on her.

Here Jan is grinding pepper on a rock with a round stone.  They really still use this method to grind spices.


Behind the main house was a traditional home that has been there for a long time.  I guess it is a guest house now, or where the husband sleeps when he doesn’t behave himself.

The bride’s family gives the groom a list of what they want him to bring, for them, to the wedding.  As you can see alcohol is huge on their list.  The jugs have a homemade brew in them.  Here, a representative of the family checks things off the list if they are acceptable.  They pile continued to grow for an hour as things were brought in to add to it.  The father of the bride, in the colorful shirt, is checking out the tobacco that they brought.


They have now added plantains and two 100 pound bags of rice and some bottled water will be added to the gift pile.


We went outside to check out the goat that was on the list.  They kept smacking it to get it to bleat.  It would’t and was too skinny, so they rejected the goat.  It was later accepted and will be taken home with the rest of the loot, to the bride’s home where they will kill the goat and cook it.  They will take the huge pots of food, prepared by the family of the groom, and all the alcohol with them and will invite the neighborhood over for an all night feast and celebration.


These are the plantains that have been pealed and are being washed prior to boiling them.


This is the groom and bride and the spokesman for the grooms family.  I guess he serves as a witness to the ceremony.  We didn’t think it was appropriate to take pictures during the wedding ceremony, so this is the best we have.  We will show the chief that performed the ceremony in a picture with Jan and me.


This is the tribal chief.  He was a huge man.  When we were introduced to him he sent someone out to buy us a coke as a gift for us.  He was gracious enough to let us take his picture with us.


This is our best friends in Douala, Romeo and Irene.  They joined the church about 11/2 years ago.  They have 4 children and always others staying with them.  They are such a source of strength to the branch and have taken such good care of us, since we arrived.  Their English has really improved and Romeo and I speak our own language.  1/2 English and 1/2 French.
Whenever we have a problem or need anything, we call on them.  They do the same with us.  We have been in their home many times and feel just like family.  I like Romeo’s short sleeved suit.

When we get missing our grandchildren too much we adopt some of the beautiful children here.