Weddings
Hi Enayat
Thanks for your latest post - it's great to get another snapshot of life in Kabul. It's fascinating to read about different traditions related to weddings. It's interesting to learn that in Afghanistan the bride's guests are traditionally supposed to remain quiet and calm, and not join in the dancing. I had to smile when I read about your friend getting up and dancing anyway! As people have commented - weddings are emotional events!
Weddings in the UK are also tied to tradition. Here is a description of some traditions surrounding marriage in the UK. Some of the words are in italics - can you guess what they mean? I am not going to include the meanings at the end of this post. Answers will be in the next one!
Traditionally, the husband-to-be gets down on one knee and pops the question. If his wife-to-be says 'yes' then the couple are engaged. During this time, a wedding is planned. A venue is booked for the wedding ceremony and for the reception, a guest-list is drawn up, invitations are sent, a wedding dress is chosen, flowers are ordered. On the wedding day, the bride walks down the aisle with her father, followed by bridesmaids and pageboys. She reaches the groom who is waiting for her. The couple say their wedding vows and the best man gives rings to the couple. After they have tied the knot, they leave the building and guests throw confetti over the couple. After the wedding party, the newlyweds go on honeymoon.
As in Afghanistan, traditions are changing of course, and there are many different kinds of weddings and civil ceremonies these days in the UK. It can be quite a simple affair, or a highly organised and expensive do, with everything planned down to the last detail. There is a newly-coined word - Bridezilla (a mix of bride and Godzilla) - to describe the bride-to-be who wants the perfect day, and will do anything she can to get it.
Enayat, I would have loved to hear the music from your wedding party - who were the famous musicians playing at the wedding? It would be great to learn more about them. Anyway...have a look at this page on the Learning English website which is all about costumes and celebrations and you will see a wedding costume from Mongolia:
/worldservice/learningenglish/specials/2010/06/100701_costumes_jul.shtml
And here is a photo of a traditional British bride - wearing a white wedding dress, and a veil. This is my niece Abbie at her recent wedding.
You really are good at narrating, and making events come alive (and well done on using the speech marks in this post!) There is one place where you've used the wrong tense:
Most of the people have already been there when we reached
This should be 'most of the people were already there when we arrived'.
Note that you need to use the word 'arrive' here. If you use 'reach' then you need to have an object too, for example 'we reached the hotel' or 'we reached the office'. Verbs that need an object are called transitive verbs. 'Arrive' is not a transitive verb. You don't need to use an object with this verb.
Finally, in most places you use articles well, but there are some examples where you need to include an article and you haven't. I have added the article in brackets:
'...those who were invited by (the) bride's family...'
'...if one from (the) bride's side...'
'...losing (a) member of one family...'
'We were looking at (the) musicians' performance...'
'...and within (a) few seconds...'
And there is one place where you have used the article where it is not needed:
'...they started to play a very rustic music...'
Here you don't need to use 'a' as 'music' is not a countable noun. I think that this is probably a slip...when you write your next post you can watch out for how you use articles.
Anyway, I look forward to hearing more about your life in Afghanistan,
Best wishes,
Kim
vocabulary
snapshot - picture, photograph
fascinating - very interesting
italics - a style of writing where letters lean to the right for example: this is writtten in italics
civil ceremony - a non-religious wedding
affair - an event, for example, a party
a do - an event, for example, a party
newly-coined - recently invented
Godzilla - a fictional giant monster - it has appeared in films and comics
narrating - telling a story
rustic - simple, from the countryside
Comment number 1.
At 11th Jul 2010, EnglishLearner wrote:Thanks Kim for your interesting post.
Actually, this post is very useful as it let us as know about traditions of other countries how it is differ from one coutry to one another.
By the way, the wedding dress for the british bride looks very simple which makes it very beautiful , but, you didn't tell us - how long should the engagement be?
We look forward to hearing from you,
Dia
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Comment number 2.
At 11th Jul 2010, EnglishLearner wrote:Actually, this post is very useful as it let us know about traditions of other countries and how it is differ from one coutry to one another.
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Comment number 3.
At 13th Jul 2010, Pary wrote:Hi Kim , Welcome to ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ LE . As Englsihlearner said I have noticed that brides in overseas are more beautiful because of simple makeup and dress .You can't belive how much most brides in Iran spend on their make up , dress , photo and ... I can't know what's the reason for those prodigalities !
cheers
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Comment number 4.
At 15th Jul 2010, EE wrote:Dear Kim,
thank you very much for your useful instruction. i follow them up.
best
Enayat Safi
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