Libyan Weddings

Libyan weddings were fairly exciting affairs. However, as they were strictly segregated, they involved one set of parties for the bride and another for the groom.


For the women's party, the guests would dress up in their best clothes and finest gold jewellery.





The bride would also dress in traditional finery, would have her hands decorated in elaborate patterns with henna, and would wear the gold jewellery provided as part of her dowry.




By contrast, the groom would wear western evening dress while the male guests normally wore traditional Libyan clothes.




The women's parties revolved around much dancing and singing. The men's parties tended to be quiet, no doubt partly because alcohol was banned in Libya. Men would sit around and chat in groups.





Sometimes they would play traditional instruments and sing. Occasionally, at a particularly wild party, some of the men would tie a scarf around their hips and pretend to be women doing a belly dance.




At the end of the celebrations, the bride and groom would be taken in caravans of cars to the house where they were to spend the first night of their honeymoon. The guests would then wait outside until the marriage had been consummated. At some point one of the older women would bring out and show to everyone a blood-marked sheet, proving that the bride had been a virgin! All the guests would cheer or ululate. Then the guests would go home, leaving the bride and groom alone at last.