Palm Sunday

My Palm Sunday was certainly not the typical church service I was used to. I went to the town of Salasaca for the wedding of Henry and Nashi. The marriage ceremony was especially exciting for me as my aunt and uncle were the “padrinos” or god parents. They wore the traditional clothes worn for weddings, matching the bride and groom. All of them had the rabbit fur hard hats balanced atop their heads. The hats left so much powder on where they rested that by the end of the day Nashi looked as if she had gray hair, not the jet black strands.
We first ate a light meal at Nashi’s house prior to the ceremony. At the church they were greeted with woven palm branches and great smiles. The bride, groom, and padrinos had a seat of honor at the front of the church. There was a guest speaker who gave the Sunday message and performed the wedding. A band from Otavalo came to share their musical talent, for the celebration. There was a young girl who acted as ring bearer. Although, I feel it should be noted that the rings were the padrinos’ who had to let the couple borrow their rings for the ceremony!
The wedding vows from what I could comprehend, were fairly similar as well as other parts. Such as the lighting of one candle to symbolize a union, and a kiss at the end! I’ve learned that some things are in every culture. Brides are still nervous, family members fun around in chaotic excitment, there is a sacred reverence during the exchange of vows, and a grand celebration afterwards. The wedding party walks from the church to the bride’s house showing all the town that these two people are now bound together by marriage.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7
“Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own; is not provoked; thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”