Category Archives: Wedding

Nigerian wedding – chapter 3. The flight home and the extra passenger upon arrival

Nigeria, Return to Ireland, Spain, Travel, Wedding,

Continuing the account of the Irish / Nigerian wedding held in Ibadan in Nigeria. Previous instalment can be read at the link – https://midnightmurphy.com/2023/06/22/nigerian-wedding-chapter-2/.

Sunday 18th September 10pm – KLM flight KL0588
We started boarding our flight home to Ireland at 21.45 on Sunday. Take-off from Lagos was scheduled for 10.05pm with an expected arrival time in Schiphol Airport Amsterdam at 5.40am and then our onward connecting flight to Dublin at 7.40am. Progress was slow. Three security agents were performing a last manual check of our bags before we could board the plane. With 294 passengers on the fully booked Boeing 777 they were busy. I was sitting in a dreaded middle seat – 38J – on the right-hand side of the plane, about five rows behind the middle galley where a set of customer toilets, and flight attendant refreshment trolleys were located. Take off was delayed by an hour thanks to slow progress in boarding. So far that made three out of three delayed flights on this expedition– Air France and KLM (airlines that are part of the same company) weren’t covering themselves in glory so far this trip.

Eventually we took off at about 11pm for which the pilot apologised and promised to try to make up some lost time on the journey back.

It was raining heavily outside the window.

Plane diversion

Take-off was smooth, but ten minutes into the flight just as I was about to settle in to watch ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ on my TV screen the plane lurched forward. The passengers screamed in terror. This wasn’t some mild turbulence that often happens in flights – this was turbulence that displaced items from tray-tops. Suddenly the plane lurched again. I had the seat top in front of me clasped in a vice like grip. The woman on the seat to my left started praying out loud.

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Nigerian wedding – chapter 2

Nigeria, Travel, Wedding, ,

Continuing the tale of an Irish man marrying a Nigerian woman in her home town of Ibadan, Nigeria as told by his brother. Read chapter one at the link: https://midnightmurphy.com/2023/06/21/nigerian-wedding-chapter-1/

Friday 16th June – introduction and engagement

On Friday morning I dressed myself in the blue ankara that had been supplied to me. Ankara is a style of clothing that prints traditional Nigerian designs, patterns, and symbols on cotton using a wax-based process. Mine was a kaleidoscope of blue. We drove to T’s parents’ house where we were formally introduced. Part of this involved me prostrating myself on the ground in front of T’s Dad to show respect and humility. I had practised this the night before. The wisest advice came from T’s brother who sagely informed me ‘Listen you end up on the floor – you can’t miss really’.

Male church outfit

A quick trip back to the hotel to change into the engagement agbada. Agbada is a four-piece male attire found among the Yoruba people of Nigeria (T’s family are Yoruban). It consists of a large, free-flowing outer robe a knee-length undervest, a pair of long trousers and a hat. It was a stunningly beautiful set of garments that witty, online commentators at home said it made me look like a bishop. I didn’t care – I loved it. The outer robe was made of heavy tweed which in the 32 degree heat (with 80% humidity) was quite uncomfortable. As we arrived at the engagement hall we were welcomed by a drummer band who loudly announced our arrival. T’s sister handed each of us a wad of Naira (Nigerian currency) to appreciate the musicians and MCs as required.

T’s parents were seated on a sofa on a slightly elevated stage at the top of the hall. C and I along with some of T’s family friends danced to the sound of an African drumbeat up the aisle where we were assigned a sofa facing T’s parents. I had to lie prostrate again in front of T’s parents to show respect.

Enter D who along with his best man, danced up the aisle to the same rhythms.

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