
People in my site “Tiouchi” had a very busy and outstanding summer time. It was a very special part of the year for locals to celebrate their weddings and for guests to get out of work stress. People living in big cities come to the village to spend their holidays by visiting their families, enjoy the nature as well as share weddings’ happiness with their families.
Directly after the Eid of Al Adha, the first wedding in the town started to finish in mid-October as the 15th one. What is special about these celebrations is that people who are preparing their marriage ceremonies agree on the dates of each wedding which make every summer day a celebration. The other reason is to organize the wedding schedule of the village. So many considerations, habits and preparations are taken into account to get ready for the big day. A week before the wedding ceremony, all the family members are gathered to give a hand in the preparations by cleaning the house, inviting the neighbors, buying the gifts for the bride and the groom.
In the morning of the second day, the girls who are not engaged yet eat the dates to bring them luck, while for the unbaked dough is given to chickens to eat.
The first thing to do when everybody is here is a tradition named ‘’Aroko’’ where the family members, neighbors, and guest collect money. They make a circle and those who want to give money provide the amount they can give. This operation is meant to help the family financially to organize the wedding and it takes from one hour to three hours depending on how many people are invited. After ‘’Aroko’’ the real celebration begins with singing and dancing.