Last weekend my friends Wiwi and Novia invited me spontaneously to Garut to attend their friend's Daughter's wedding. I thought already that I would be thrilled but I never thought it would be that extremely unforgettable. Garut is a beautiful little town in the mountains just 60 km from Bandung. Tourist attractions include the Cipanas hot spring area, several treks and the Papandayan crater. Kampung Naga, a socially secluded village with members still living in the past without technology, electricity and transport is probably the most impressive place in the Garut area. It is reminiscent of the Baduy society which I have visited before but unfortunately I didn't have the chance to visit these beautiful places. Our schedule was very packed. Instead, I made some new friends like Pak Dadang and his family. We had a lovely food tour in lovely and fairly cheap traditional restaurants. The gurame fish with green chilli is one of the very great dishes
The next day was different from the original plan where we were supposed to go to the church and then eat. Because I was considered part of the Pak Dadang family,he started knocking on my door at 5.30. I was still asleep but didn't need too long to get ready and pack my suitcase. Afterall, it was worth all the energy. We did have an interesting cultural exchange already in the car and found Pak Dadang very openminded towards other cultures including the ethnic Chinese.
All the family was gathered at Pak Dadang's place and before getting my bridal make-up, I joined them for a small breakfast consisting of rice, chicken and some vegies. Later we had risoles(crumbed spring rolls) and lemper(chicken cooked in coconut milk stuffed in a sticky rice roll) for morning tea. The makeup artist started transform my face until probably nobody would recognise me. I thought she needed very long to transform the ugly duckling into a Sundanese beauty;-P. My hair was too short and stood out like a lion, so she modified my hairdo and put a Sundanese hair decoration into my hair.
The bridal escorts were dressed in blue kebayas(Sundanese Indonesian traditional tunic) and sarongs. I spent some time talking to the Wedding celebrant, MC, his assistants, Pak Dadang's relatives, the Ustads(Moslem scholars) and penghulu(traditional Moslem Wedding officer). The MC spoke some English but my Indonesian was actually fine.
So if I remember well the ceremony started in this order:
1. Serah terima or bridegroom handover from their family to the bridal family. The bridegroom's family handed over presents to the family of the bride. Everything was represented from quilts, fruit baskets, canned and dried food, crockery, pots and pans etc
2. The real ceremony, both parties agreed on the money and gold to "buy" the bridegroom
3. Praying several chapters of the Qur'an before and afterwards
4. Traditional Sundanese singing
5. The most fun of all, the "Nyawer" ceremony. All of us would throw some money and candies or instant noodles into the crowd. everybody will try to be the first person to pick up some money or candies. Well, in my beautiful dress I was the last and felt like an elephant dressed as a princess
Bridegroom and escorts got ready to go the the rented building where the wedding reception continued. Wiwi and NOvia arrived with faces so astonished as if they saw a monster from outer space. Apparently all the make up and dress had changed me quite a bit.
This was probably one of the highlights of my stay in Jakarta and meeting unforgettable people like Pak Dadang and his family.
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