I know the wedding season in Algeria is over or nearing a
closure, but it is never late nor out of context to talk about weddings in
Algeria.
In recent years, there has been a tendency to formalize
Algerian weddings. This is most cases means having the celebration in a wedding
hall, decorated tackily with Chinese plastic flowers and tinsel. For those who
are real show offs, it is real flowers, but it is rare because there are never
enough flowers in the shops to decorate one wedding hall let alone a few. I remember as a kid, there used to be more florists
selling real flowers, but their numbers have declined dramatically like
everything beautiful in Algeria.
As I am an old-school at heart, I am all for wedding celebrations
at home. I have recently watched a video of Mourad Djaafri playing at a wedding
for men. The celebration took place in the open air, more precisely in the
space between apartment blocks (the formal name of which I ignore). I am glad
he did not feel that he needed a hall for his performance, for having men dance
happily in the street at night, where no alcohol or blasting DJ music are
needed, simply cheerful people sitting on plastic chairs is what a
celebration should be about. It reminds me of a wedding about 20 years ago,
before Algeria was plunged into years of darkness. Our neighbour held his
wedding in the street; it was a quiet street where hardly any cars passed by,
and everyone one was dancing and happy for him to be married, nothing formal,
just happy people enjoying themselves.
I am glad this tradition has not
completely died out in favour of a wedding hall where people sit around tables,
staring at each other, and the host is so bitter about spending a fortune to
rent the hall that the food ends up being a few biscuits and you are meant to
fast for a day just for the pleasure to be in a wedding hall.
