Never again will I wonder why there are so many nice dress shops here. We went to our first Brazilian wedding (a few weeks ago now) for our friends from the Bonoco church. Mary wore a pink and black dress that she had worn at her Bridesmaid’s luncheon before our wedding. Matt wore kaki’s and a button up long sleeve shirt (no tie). We arrived like any good American couple would – half an hour before the invitation time – and were the only ones there. When people started showing up about 15 minutes after the invitation time, the men were dressed like Matt (like they were going to church in the States) and the women were dressed in sequins and chiffon (like they were going to prom). The wedding actually started about an hour and 15 minutes after the invitation time and we sat at the same tables and chairs during the wedding that we were in for the reception. Everything was decorated in peach – no sorry – salmon (a very popular color here).
Within the same two weeks our brother in Christ, Otavio, lost his mother (who lived beside them) and his brother (who had lived above them). His mother died of cancer and there were many at her funeral. It was a sad time for Otavio and his family but she had been sick for a while and it was not unexpected. Otavio’s brother on the other hand died just 2 weeks after his mother in a tragic public accident. Otavio and 2 of his brothers are lifeguards on the beaches here. His brother Odivaldo was swimming out to help someone and a boat ran him over and drove off. (This happened the day after Fat Tuesday and it is assumed that the driver of the boat was drunk.) It was all over the radio and the funeral was televised. It was a beautiful Catholic service with the pall bearers all wearing life guard shirts and there was enormous turn out. Funerals here are always the day after because there is no embalming. They do everything at once and at the same place: the visitation, the service, and the burial are all in different parts of the cemetery. This makes for a very intense and somber day. Otavio especially was heart broken because he is the only one of his family who is a Christian, the rest of his family are non-practicing Catholics who dabble in spiritism. Because we and the Porters wanted to show our support of our brother and his wife and daughter, we decided to cook for them… for more details on this interesting culture story see the Porter’s most recent blog.
The second wedding we went to was for Jaci’s son, Douglas. Mary wore the same dress to this wedding and this time she was a little over-dressed. Not sure how we’re supposed to tell the difference yet in the wedding invitations. This wedding was less formal and a little more animated. The reception this time was not at the same place but was at the family’s house (where we hold our Bible studies). It was, interestingly enough, a pot-luck reception. We brought American brownies for them to try (Mary’s Grandmother sends us mixes). We left early because Matt’s allergies were acting up and the bride fixed us a plate to take with us. Gotta love Brazilian hospitality!
