A Lovely Ethnic Wedding

Last Saturday afternoon, our gospel choir witnessed and participated in a truly meaningful and spirit-filled Nuptial Mass. I doubt that our Cathedral has ever been the scene of an ethnic wedding of such beauty.

Picture if you can, the marriage of an African bride and groom in traditional American white with eleven attendants each. The women were dressed in identical ethnic African clothing with gorgeous head wraps; the men in black suits. Picture a congregation of several hundred people, most of whom wore authentic African clothing in stunning colors and designs. Many of them had come to the States from Africa for the wedding of their family member. Some could speak little or no English.

Our choir members were dressed in black with colorful kente cloth stoles that had been wrapped individually for each of us by one of our choir members who wore her own as a head wrap. We were positioned behind the altar where the organ, piano and the cathedral choirs normally stand. Microphones carried our voices out into the cavernous church.

Picture a Nuptial Mass with African customs woven into the service. I was particularly impressed with the respect given to the Scriptures. Right before the first reading, the Lectionary was processed down the center aisle by a special group of a half dozen or more attendants, again dressed in spectacular African clothing, singing an ethnic hymn complete with drumbeats. The bride and groom read the first reading themselves. It was a reading from the Song of Songs and they alternated reading the appropriate parts for each. Quite beautiful...

Because of time constraints (the Cathedral must have a regular assembly line of marriages taking place on a Saturday during the summer months), some of the music we had learned could not be sung. We followed the lead of our priest who was mindful that we needed to be finished at a certain time. One of the losses meant that the choir was not able to receive Holy Communion with the rest of the congregation since we sang during the whole of that part of the Mass.

There is much more that I could write about this beautiful Mass and wedding ceremony but I think you have probably gotten the picture of what we experienced that day. I am grateful that we were invited to sing this Mass and it is surely one we will not soon forget.

I hope to get some photos of the wedding in the next week or so and when I do, I will place a few of them on this blog.