It felt like 40 degrees celsius at > 80% humidity. It was hot this saturday, when the wedding party prepared for the wedding at the buddhist temple in Ginowan, Okinawa, Japan. It was day 2 of the wedding marathon of our friends and the party was about to go on.
Before going inside the temple, bride and groom were dressed with traditional garments. They looked so nice, and their hair was styled that traditional way either. The bride, born in France and looking “european”, couldn´t be distinguished from a real japanise woman anymore, that was amazing.
Bride and groom, and the whole wedding party (me too) had to wash their hands with spring water from a source to ensure purity when entering the temple. The group was set up in two rows, in parallel following the bride and the groom in a long line. The brides family took seats on the left side in the temple, the grooms family took seats a the right side in the temple.
For me it was the first time being inside a temple. The room layout was almost the same as the layout of a church, but of course everything was wooden and not built of stones. On the altar was a mirror and offerings were placed (vegetables and other things). I am not buddhism specialist, so please bear of me if I´m not explaining the whole long story. Two priests were managing the ceremony, assisted by two female assistants.
As I did not understand at least one of the sentences they spoke, I can only tell you what happened. The main ceremony was that bride & groom and their families shared blessed sake with each other and they drunk it in a special order. In between the priests sung chants and said melodic speeches and after 45 Minutes everything was done 🙂 Two families became now one family.
Wow, but it was very mystical and a very special athmosphere in the temple. That was an experience I won´t forget my whole life!
Two wedding ceremonies – one christian and one buddhist – were done, it was time the next part: the wedding dinner with family & friends. In a beach hotel in Ginowan, a large banquet hall was rent for about 200 guests. The dinner was great, it was japanese-european and the program was nearly the same as we know from european wedding dinners, with one difference: Every point on the agenda was planned sharp and after 3 hours everything was finished in-time.
On a european (or german) wedding dinner, after 3 hours just the speeches of the bride&groom´s father´s ended and everybody is waiting to start eating… okay, but this is another cultural issue.
The entertainment part was parallel to the dinner (that saved a lot of time) and a few typical Okinawan groups presented music and drums choreography. That was also very nice and entertaining!
The last part of the wedding festival was the wedding party at night in a club. This part was very european style: fingerfood, free drinks and party games of all kind and a lot of dancing and laughing. A nice closing of two days wedding marathon.
You need to have the opportunity to be invited to such a multicultural wedding. Even our japanese friend told us that a traditional buddhist wedding ceremony is something special and rare also for them, because everyone wants to have a christian-style wedding in japan. So we feel very proud and honoured to have had the opportunity to be part of it. Thank you!