Arab wedding

Traditional wedding usually includes four parts: arranged marriages, reading of
the fatiha, engagement and katb el-kitab.
1. Arranged marriages: it is very common in the Arab society They usually have a
first meet. It usually takes place in the public place or in the bride's house. There
will be the bride, groom, and their respective mothers. But the two family sit in a
separate room. They will call the bride to take some tea to the groom’s room to
make the groom to have a chance to take a look to the bride. They will get to
know each other. If the groom like the bride (the bride can also say her opinions),
he will come to the house again for engagement. If they doesn’t match, he’ll go to
another family to have another meeting.
2. Reading of the Fatiha: It is actually like the engage celebration. The bride's family
hosts a reception in their home. And the groom formally asks for the bride's hand
in marriage from her father or the eldest man in the family. After the father agrees,
the families read the Fatiha and drink sharbat, a sweet cordial prepared from
flowers or fruit. It’s like the formal ceremony. Just like Taiwan’s engagement.
And follow up they would have the engagement.
3. Engagements in the Arab world are usually much like wedding parties. And in this
day the bride can waer whatever she wants. In the ceremony, they will exchange
their rings on each other’s right-hand ring finger.
4. katb el-kitab: After the engagement. They will have the wedding ceremony which
is called katb el-kitab. It is the official marriage ceremony. And it takes place in
the mosque. Mosque is the most solemn place in Arab society because religion is
like the most important thing in their life. And It starts with a person giving a
short speech about how the Prophet honored his wives, how to honor women, and
how women should treat their husbands and honor them. After the speech, he will
tell the groom to listen carefully to what he said and remember it. And after that,
the bride’s father will accept the proposal. The ceremony resembles the reading of
the Fatiha, but it is considered a more official ceremony in front of God. Two
witnesses, usually the eldest men in each family, sign their names to the marriage
contract, and the couple is now officially married.

And there are two special things for Arab wedding that needs to be mentioned.
Henna night: It is very similar to a bachelorette party. After the engagement, they will
hold a party. The party is separate. Men have their own oarty while women have
theirs too. The bride will invite her friends and relatives to join the party. It is also a
rare opportunity for the women in Arab society to set them free. Because the party
only opens to woman, they can wear more open and sexy. the house party includes
food, drinks, and a lot of dancing. A women's group plays Arabic music, sometimes
Islamic music, while everyone dances. A woman draws Mehndi, a temporary form of
skin decoration using henna, on the bride and guests' skin —usually the palms and
feet.But specially, the groom can come to the party. When he comes, all the women
have to wear their original clothes back to cover their face.

And another thing that is special is that during the celebration, the women will
make a sound like “Haooooo” to show their blessing. They move their tongue
left and right repeatedly to make the sounds. It is kind of noisy for the foreigners
but we need to respect their culture.

Need to know:
1. No picture: Although it is the weeding, you still can’t take pictures of the woman.
Even the bride is not allowed.
2. No gift: You don’t have to bring gift to the wedding party. In Taiwan we usually
bring the red envelope with cash inside and in Western society they usually bring
gifts. But in Arab wedding you don’t have to bring anything.
3. Night party: It is very hot during the noon so the wedding usually holds at night,
usually at 9 p.m. and sometimes even later. So remember to grab little food before
you join the wedding or you might be starving.