Armenian Wedding

My host family's relative got married a few weeks ago, so Sarah and I got to see part of the two days worth of ceremony.

The first day the elders share a drink and agree to the marriage. Then the couple shares a drink and receives gifts of gold.

There is then a feast to celebrate the unification of the two families. This was the first course.

The waiters danced with meat on skewers before serving them.

This traditional Armenian dance involves putting your arms in the air and swaying back and forth. This is a good option if you don't know any of the more complicated Armenian dances, or you are plastered.

The couple's throne

The second day began in my host family's house. The families of the bride and groom must buy their new in-law all of their clothes for the day, so the groom's family brought the bride's dress to our house.

Food and drinks were once again shared by the elders.

The groom's family danced outside before my least favorite wedding tradition: driving the family's cars through town honking and making as much noise as possible. The wedding ceremony and legal proceedings took the entire day.

A couple days later we had a lot of alcohol left over, so we played a traditional Russian drinking game. First, you drink a lot. Then you play a group version of Go Fish; the last person with cards gets a charcoal mark on his face.

There were no survivors.