A Wedding in Jordan

Jordan’s more correct name, since 1946, is ‘The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan’. It is so-called because of the ruling Hashemite family, who have governed the country since 1921. The Hashemites trace their ancestry back to the founding of Islam and are called after Hashim, the great grandfather of the Prophet Mohammed.

MB was very honoured to recently receive a wedding invitation from a Jordanian work colleague. As HX followers are well aware by now, no better man than MB to book a ticket at a moment’s notice, jump on a plane, arrive at his destination and just go with the flow. Which is exactly what MB did, on Thursday last!

MB booked his hotel with his flight through the Royal Jordanian Airways, having earlier looked up his Trip Adviser Bible. MB’s hotel was called ‘The House’ which is a boutique suite hotel and quite luxurious, which suited MB no end! The wedding hotel was the very fine Intercontinental, a very short taxi journey away. The exact venue for the wedding party was the swimming pool courtyard and adjoining party hall.

All weddings that MB had previously attended in the Middle East were Christian weddings and they were not dissimilar to Irish weddings, except on a more lavish and grand scale. The Amman wedding involved a young Muslim couple and was a little different from the Christain weddings, but not by much.

The men and women mixed with the musicians and dancers to welcome, first the Groom, and then the Bride & Father of the Bride, into the courtyard; with father presenting daughter to her new husband. The crowd then split in two with the men taking their poolside tables for chat and food and the ladies doing likewise in the adjacent party hall with music blaring. After the food was finished, all the men joined the ladies in the hall along with the dancers and musicians and the whole crowd went a bit crazy on the dancefloor! There was a seriously great vibe as the tribal dancers, family, and friends danced with the newly married couple to the pounding drums and pipes. All in all, it was a great and vibrant wedding occasion and a super send-off for the young couple beginning their married life. MB enjoyed the occasion immensely.

Best wishes to Zaid and Batool for their future life together from MB, wa shuhran kabeer for the invitation. Alf mabruk to you both.

Some photos to give followers a flavour: