Texas, Syria Style

Impromptu parties are usually the best kind as they grow out of limited expectations. I was totally ambushed yesterday when I found myself celebrating a Syrian wedding with a bunch of Texans. I’m guessing that will require a bit of explanation. Our next-door neighbors are long time immigrants from Syria. We’ve become close with them over the past few years. They’re the neighbors I built the retaining wall for last year. Their daughter is the one getting married and last evening they hosted a pre-wedding party for the two families. The groom is from Texas which explains their presence. I don’t think either they nor I was read for what was ahead. I had expected a low key, fairly sedate barbecue and small talk.

My Wife, in Yellow, Enjoying the Festivities

By the end of the night, I had a henna stain on my little finger and my Favorite Panamanian had been inducted into one of the many ritualistic dances the Syrian ladies performed around the bride and groom, along with the telltale “La-La-La” female chant emblematic of the middle east. Okay, so more explanation; everything seemed very normal for the first part of the party. The Texans, already out of their element in the People’s Republic of Taxachusetts, to their credit, fully emerged in the unfolding events. After we ate, all of a sudden there was a Syrian gal dancing in a circle in front of the engaged couple holding a chocolate vase with four candles in it. She passed this off to the other ladies in the crowd and I was not surprised at all to see my Favorite Panamanian taking of up the dance at one point. I mean, it was dancing and she is Panamanian.

This was followed by tying a small white cloth with a red ribbon around the little finger of the couple. Soon everyone had the cloth tied to them. When it got to me, my wife gleefully explained the tradition was to tie a bundle of baby poo with the cloth. Since they were extracting the supposed poo from the chocolate bowl, I doubted this, however, it did look like that (if my granddaughter’s donations are any indication). Fortunately one of the Syrian ladies assured me this was not the case. After the bundle was applied to my finger, they explained that it was a mixture of henna which would stain the finger, for a couple of weeks. Notice, they informed me after the application. We were having so much fun by this point I could not have cared less.

The Chocolate Candle Bowl

Favorite Panamanian Takes Up the Challenge

Neighborhood Mafioso Enjoying the Party

Bring on the Dancing Girls!

Soon the ladies were dancing again, in a circle involving the engaged couple and, of course, the two Panamanians, my wife and the Neighborhood Mafioso were involved. There were more the chants from the ladies which leant a real Arabic tone for the night. By the end of the night the Texas ladies had been taught and were in full voice with their soon to be Syrian in laws. I found it kind of cool that on a tired old hill in Worcester the Syrian wedding traditions that must date back hundreds of years were celebrated with so much joy by such a disparate group of people. I think it shows that, in the end, we all crave human connection and that we’re really not that dissimilar. Too much fun and now I’ll be rocking this henna tattoo for a couple weeks.

My Henna Finger

And She's Still Dancing

And Dancing

Couple Being Blessed by Group

The Mafiosos Joined the Dance

Finished Another Puzzle

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RECURRING CHARACTERS:                                        

ABFA – Amazing Best Family Athlete - my daughter in law; BR3 – Blog Reader #3 – granddaughter #3; BRS - Blog Reader the Sequel - second granddaughter; Cantankerous Friend – friend since grade school who likes to argue about everything, poses as radical leftist to attract women; Curbside Girls – close friends of my daughter acquired during her single days in Brooklyn; Deckzilla – our backyard deck which grew to monstrous dimensions once my wife got involved in planning; Favorite Panamanian - the wife (of course); FBR - First Blog Reader - first granddaughter; First Friday – celebrations to mark the First Friday of the Week; Great Aunt - my elder sister; Keene Friends 1 & 2 – friends since high school from my home town of Keene, NH; Kindergarten Friend – friend since kindergarten whom I reunited with after many years; Maine and Virginia Musqueteras – two close friends of my wife – her US sisters, my wife is the 3^rd musquetera (musketeer); Neighborhood Mafioso - wife's close friend and Panamanian mafia member; PanaGals – female relatives /friends of my wife from Panama; Panamanian/Latin Mafia – inevitable group of Latino friends my wife accumulates wherever we have lived & their spouses; Pittsburgh College Roommate– high school friend, also a “Minor Celebrity” in Pittsburgh; Riggins - also known as the Grandpuppy, son's dog; Soxfather - my brother in law; Tia Loca – wife’s younger sister; Wingman – my son in law; Wingmom – Wingman’s mom, of course