Egyptian Engagment

"A bell is no bell 'til you ring it,
A song is no song 'til you sing it,
And love in your heart
Wasn’t put there to stay -
Love isn’t love'Til you give it away."


No this is not a wedding. Although the future bride is wearing a large white dress, holding a bouquet of flowers, and the couple is surrounded by priests, this is only an engagment. Each step along the way to marriage is very vital in the Egyptian society. First the man must ask a member of the woman's family to have her hand in marriage (in this case the groom, John, had to ask her brother since she grew up in an orphanage). Then next comes the engagment cermony which we were invited to last Tuesday night. Amidst the parade of clanging cymbols and priests chanting, walked the beaming couple towards a stage at the front of the church hall. A wall of men holding video cameras surrounds them, documenting each step of the way. Then the proccesion haulted and the priests prayed over the couple, had them put on the engagment rings, and sign legal documents. This is part of the ceremony is then followed by all the guests greeting and congratulating the future bride and groom. After pictures and the enthusiasm of the guests dies down they pull out the cakes and sweets, because what is an Egyptian gathering without a mountain of food being forced on you?