The Engagement Faarida

Mshairfeh and Asfoura, Jerash, Jordan

I've been sick all week, and I wasn't going to go to Mshairfeh, but when I called to tell Wijdan this, she would hear none of it. "Sihil is getting engaged tomorrow, and you have to bring your camera and come!" I've been to a lot of weddings lately, but it seems I'm always wanted either for my translation skills or my camera....

I always thought the term faarida only referred to the procession to bring the bride on her wedding day, but apparently it also refers to the procession to the bride's village for her engagement party, as well. Nearly half the neighborhood piled into trucks and the father of the groom's bus and chanted our way across northern Jerash.

From Sihil's Engagement

I was hoping to get more still photographs to show you the steps of the engagement party, and to get some nice shots of the people I know best among the groom's family and friends.

From Sihil's Engagement

But Wijdan had other ideas. She wanted video. This was the best of the videos, taken by Wijdan herself.