Excuse me sir, may I marry your daughter? (words of advice for grooms to be...)
As with any wedding, those in Northern Thailand are a combination of happy spectacle for onlookers and relatives alike and a happy terror for the bride and groom, particularly the groom (though I obviously have a one-sided view on the matter) who, though tacit agreement is usually given in advance, still has to negotiate his way into the bridal home through throngs of exacting and judgmental relatives, all manning specially erected gates.
After all this, he has to present a bride price to the father-in-law, of the few pennies he can scrape together and the promise to find more to look after the daughter and her parents in their old age; at any stage, should he fail to impress, the doors can slam and the whole thing is called off for a more suitable boy or until he can get himself on track to make a less laughable offer.
Should you be short on coppers, however, you might want to consider arriving in a glorious parade of supporters, not only to impress doubting father-in-laws of the overall wealth of your family and genetic suitability of their children (in my case we managed to act sane for long enough persuade Aoy's Dad that my imperfections were indeed an anomaly).
So when a local resident and friend announced his marriage, and though he must have been confident of a good impression already and had an amazing parade organised before he spoke with us, I thought of the trouble we'd had persuading the Donchais to accept me as a provider for their daughter, the embarrassment when the first gate initially turned me away and my father had to intervene with a quiet envelope of cash....
...how about an enforcer of a tuskier kind?
...the wedding was about 15km from our place so we took a leisurely day to walk up there, stopping for lunch on the way - local farmers' gardens became lunch for the eles and I still love the way local residents rush out to feed fruit to them as they walk past...
...when you're driving at ele pace (idling in low box 2nd) you have plenty of time to play with the cameras, talk to folks as you chug past, read books, do jigsaw puzzles, compose poems etc...
...the parade started from Wat Prathat Pha Ngao - one of the most sacred and Royally supported (and beautiful)temples in Northern Thailand...
...even with a police escort the traffic doesn't stop, but I think it is fair to say they noticed the procession, Lamyai and Pleum acted to carry two principles - no saddle for them though...
...and the local villagers were suitable impressed.
As predicted there were no problems with the gates - I don't think there would have been anyway - and K. Wassana and Robert are now safely married.
I hope they enjoyed their wedding present from the Anantara elephant camp as much as we enjoyed giving it and have a long and happy life together!
After all this, he has to present a bride price to the father-in-law, of the few pennies he can scrape together and the promise to find more to look after the daughter and her parents in their old age; at any stage, should he fail to impress, the doors can slam and the whole thing is called off for a more suitable boy or until he can get himself on track to make a less laughable offer.
Should you be short on coppers, however, you might want to consider arriving in a glorious parade of supporters, not only to impress doubting father-in-laws of the overall wealth of your family and genetic suitability of their children (in my case we managed to act sane for long enough persuade Aoy's Dad that my imperfections were indeed an anomaly).
So when a local resident and friend announced his marriage, and though he must have been confident of a good impression already and had an amazing parade organised before he spoke with us, I thought of the trouble we'd had persuading the Donchais to accept me as a provider for their daughter, the embarrassment when the first gate initially turned me away and my father had to intervene with a quiet envelope of cash....
...how about an enforcer of a tuskier kind?
...the wedding was about 15km from our place so we took a leisurely day to walk up there, stopping for lunch on the way - local farmers' gardens became lunch for the eles and I still love the way local residents rush out to feed fruit to them as they walk past...
...when you're driving at ele pace (idling in low box 2nd) you have plenty of time to play with the cameras, talk to folks as you chug past, read books, do jigsaw puzzles, compose poems etc...
...the parade started from Wat Prathat Pha Ngao - one of the most sacred and Royally supported (and beautiful)temples in Northern Thailand...
...even with a police escort the traffic doesn't stop, but I think it is fair to say they noticed the procession, Lamyai and Pleum acted to carry two principles - no saddle for them though...
...and the local villagers were suitable impressed.
As predicted there were no problems with the gates - I don't think there would have been anyway - and K. Wassana and Robert are now safely married.
I hope they enjoyed their wedding present from the Anantara elephant camp as much as we enjoyed giving it and have a long and happy life together!
Comments