Maya Wedding

Sheldon & Darlena Wuck

The great thing about weddings down here in Toledo is the inclusiveness. No invitations are sent out, no save the date cards, and best of all no RSVP’s indicating whether you will be in attendance with a guest/date. A bus goes around to the villages of the bride and groom, picks up everyone who wants to come, and takes everyone back home after the ceremony and lunch. An all-inclusive celebration.

Yesterday, I finally got the chance to attend a wedding after witnessing several of these packed wedding buses roll through my village. Darlena, the oldest of my host-sisters that still lived at home was married in the village of San Jose. At age 19, she is a little older than average, but that is because she had a hard time choosing a husband. “Hard to choose, easy to refuse,” is what she used to tell me. As a close family friend and the owner of a brand new camera, I was also designated official wedding photographer, so expect tons of pictures.

The ceremony portion was about 2.5 hours long, almost entirely in Maya Mopan, and was a multi-purpose church service complete with a Baptism at the beginning and the wedding at the end. The church was packed with family and friends of the bride and groom, and once the service ended, a parade followed the couple through the village, not neglecting to grab the church pews on the way out for seating at the reception. Lunch was a massive feast of pork caldo (soup), poch (tamale like corn dumplings), and tortillas. A generator provided the music in this electricity free village and a crowd of about 200 enjoyed the sunny afternoon. The little kids showed off their best dance moves while the adults discretely passed around bottles of home-made alcohol. Around 2pm everyone was tired, full, and ready to return. The bus was packed up, everyone piled in, and the wedding was complete.