She also had to ask two of the young girls next door to plait her hair, which would take the best part of four hours to do. Her mother and Mama Kama would help her into her dress and place a special veil over her plaited hair and adorn her with ornaments fit for a princess before she would meet her prince. This whole preparation was expected to take a total of eight hours. Therefore, time was of the essence for the women to get cracking. Mama Mondo told Beko to get started with the hair, then the bathing then the dressing, in that order. Mama Mondo was to call on Mama Kama as soon as Beko finished her bath to assist with the dressing.
Chapter 28
Meanwhile, Mabige was assisted by some of the young men to tie the animals under the shed of the huge tree on the outskirts of the compound, where they could rest and cool down. As soon as he finished that, he headed straight to Tamura’s place to get ready for the ceremony. Tamura had shown him and his guest where everything was as he still had to be with the king to tie up a few things they were working on. As soon as the king was through with him, he was going to come back and help Mabige get ready for his big day.
Mabige was anxious to see his bride to be, but he knew the rules and he had to wait until the ceremony would start. He had to settle for second-hand information from Mara who was more than happy to fill him in on the details. She sat them in the dining room and got to business and said, “Beko is so excited that you came, she spends hours every day talking about you and daydreaming about you. She never stops and the queen made her a beautiful dress for the ceremony and she made me one too. So I will be going over there to get ready and have my hair done. When you see her, you will not recognise her at all, she looks really nice in that dress.”
Mabige felt relieved to hear this as he was not sure if his bride to be was still interested in marrying him. That was his biggest fear as he was coming down to Goza. He had heard stories of brides to be changing their minds or running off with someone else while the groom was busy getting ready to be married to them. However, he had a calming feeling that Beko would not do that to him and that his nerves were just playing tricks on him.
The whole compound was agog with festivity, meat being roasted on open braai fires, women cutting, slicing and chopping vegetables and all sorts of delicacies to prepare for the feast. The smoke from the cooking fires seemed to carry a whiff of roasting meat and all sorts of herbs with it. This created a real ambience of celebration and put the entire village in a jovial mood. The king was also to attend this banquet and as usual Mama Kama was rearing to go in preparing the king’s special seat and one for the queen as well amidst the rest of the Mondos’ family seats at the high table as they would be hosting the occasion.
When all the men were seated to name their bride prize, the women had to continue with the cooking as they were not invited to this part of the ceremony. They would join in later when they would come to present Beko to her husband. The only women who were allowed to sit with the men are Beko’s aunties, her father’s sisters, who would name the things they wished for Beko and her mother to have and some small items for themselves as well.
Beko’s aunties, Sanga and Kepo, had to be called from the Jora Village where they both got married. The Jora Village was a very small but very productive community of market traders and fishermen. The women worked the fields and produced farm produce to sell at the market, while their husbands spend most of their lives on riverbanks fishing for the same purpose, to sell and make a living at the marketplace.
This made them self-sufficient and respected among their neighbours. King Gama especially had respect for them and had spent a lot of time having business dealings with them. This made him to place the Towa people at the bottom of the pile in comparison to people such as the Jora.
Jora is situated a few hours on the other side of the Baminga Mountains. The two young men who were sent to call the aunties had sprinted there and back to deliver the message because they were in a hurry to come back and enjoy all the food and dancing and the fun. The aunties did not waste any time in coming over as they found it a perfect excuse to get away from their daily lives and to come and support their favourite niece who was an only daughter of their brother’s. They were also looking forward to getting something special from the bride prize for their efforts.
Now Chief Bongo stood up and addressed the gathering of these men and two women and paid his respect to all distinguished guest including the king. The queen was still waiting with the rest of the women to join the group when instructed later. Chief Bongo was chosen as Papa Mondo’s spokesman for the entire ceremony and he took this position very seriously. After the introductions, Mabige was asked to say why he was here so that everything was verbally confirmed according to tradition. He was not allowed to directly speak out. So he whispered to Soku to respond by saying, “I am here because I have seen
