A wedding in Minangkabau village

West Sumatra

A wedding ceremony among the people of Minangkabau is an extraordinarily colourful spectacle. Whereas in the majority of towns weddings today are mostly held in restaurants, or sometimes in hotels who can accommodate guests from further away, in Indonesian rural areasthey still hold the wedding in the village itself, at the home of one of the couple. Sometimes the festivities can take up part of the road that runs through the village.

The Minangkabau still maintaintraditions of matriarchal society – meaning that the bride can select her own groom.

The most intimate and elaborate part of the ceremony. In the room there are only the young couple, the witnesses, the photographers, and the wedding managers. The young couple immerse their index fingers in a bowl of rice, at the same time. It means from now on, they will share everything together. Very often the couple will be showered with dry rice – a sign of prosperity for the future, of a large family, and for that family's future well-being. 

The guests eat separately from the bridal couple. The wedding food is prepared in the rear courtyard. In this region of Indonesia it's traditional to include a dish of buffalo, which is specially slaughtered for the ceremony.