My Big, Fat Greek Romanian Wedding! Part 1...

I have not disappeared.  I have just not felt like blogging.  Perhaps it is my propensity pentru (for) procrastination (hey, it's my blog, and I can speak RomEnglish if I want to, especially as it suits my very poor attempt at alliteration!), or it might be that I am overwhelmed with everything I would like to communicate.  Or exhausted.  Or just in a somewhat questionable mood.

Ahem.

Anyway.

The wedding of D.T.'s niece to a very nice (and unsuspecting ;-)) young man from Texas took place this past Saturday.  It was a very beautiful event which was very much in keeping with Romanian tradition, both as regards weddings and socially acceptable faux pas such as D.T. speaking in English at his Romanian niece's wedding with the Romanian pastor translating what D.T. says from English into Romanian.  When D.T. himself is Romanian.  Are you following me here?

Why does this seem normal to me?

Or... D.T. translating the Romanian pastor's sermon from Romanian to English, which turned into D.T. assisting with the actual officiating of the wedding because last minute anything is perfectly socially acceptable here.

For which I and the U.S. parents of the groom were extremely grateful.  Except when last minute anything involves D.T. being asked immediately following the wedding to preach at church the next day.  And when the reception lasts until well past 9 p.m., leaving D.T. to stay up until 2 a.m. to prepare a sermon.  Which, again, he preaches in English with the Romanian pastor translating.

Does anyone besides me find this normal???

I digress.

Back to the wedding.

Weddings in Romania are different from weddings in America in several ways.

Perhaps most significant is the fact that most Romanian nuptials involve two weddings.  One wedding, a civil ceremony takes place in the city hall some time (days, weeks,  or months) before the second wedding which takes place in a church.

The civil ceremony is a very joyous occasion attended mostly by family and perhaps a few friends and neighbors.  The couple and witnesses gather together in a small room

where papers are signed...

and legal vows are exchanged,

uniting the couple in the sight of the law.

Afterwards, the couple greet their guests, who then sing songs of congratulations and form a "tunnel" of flowers for the couple to pass through.

The second wedding is held in a church and unites the couple in the sight of God.  This is what took place for D.T.'s niece on Saturday.

It is getting late here in Romania, so I will stop here for now and tell you more in Part 2 soon...

***Addition to original post***

Um... I just re-read this.  Did I mention that abrupt endings are also socially acceptable?

Living in His JOY, HOPE, and PEACE...



***Don't forget to pray for someone today!