Kitchen party

Little by little I am slowing experiencing different bits of Zambia culture, though one thing that I did not expect to see or attend is a kitchen party which normally is a female only event. Luckily for me a friend asked if I would take some photos at her sister’s kitchen party so I was let in. We don’t really have an equivalent to the kitchen party back home and comparing it to a hen party would be misleading. The party I attended was women only but included friends, family, future family for the bride to be and children; all dressed in colourful outfits, some with matching headgear and many with new hairstyles. The guests bring presents to furnish the bride’s kitchen to get her ready for married life, which on this occasion included pots, pans, plates, cutlery, electrical items and a kitchen dresser for storing everything. Some parties where the friends and family have more money include giving cookers and fridges as presents.

Aside from the presents, culturally the kitchen party was fascinating to me because of how the bride has to behave. She cannot show any emotions, nor speak, during the party and spends the whole time staring, stony faced at her own feet. Her demeanour resembled that of a naughty school girl sent to wait outside the headmaster’s office. The bride was led into the party under cover of a chitenge, which only the groom is permitted to remove. Therefore, she had to sit covered, awaiting his arrival and on Saturday this waiting lasted around 45 minutes. He came, flowers in hand, to unveil his bride to be. They both then proceeded to hand out a few thank you presents to some of guests before the groom departed. After this came the food, speeches, readings and dancing. Each of the guests took their turn to hand over their presents and whisper some advice to the bride. During this process the bride barely moved and then only got up to be taken to inspect the larger presents like the kitchen dresser. Finally at the end of the party with the guests clustering around her for photos was the bride allowed to smile.