Weddings are the most common social events in which people express their happiness by singing and dancing regardless of ethnicity, language, or culture. Wedding traditions and customs greatly vary between cultures, ethnic groups, religions, countries, and social classes. We have attended several Middle-Eastern Christian Orthodox weddings which introduced me to new types of music and dances. An Orthodox wedding is considered a ceremony where two people becoming one in the marriage that is why chanting and praying is essential. On the other hand, the reception celebration music and singing were utterly different from the church.
In an Egyptian Christian Orthodox wedding, all the guests wore formal outfits. The bride wore a white wedding dress and veil to emphasize purity. The groom wore a black tuxedo. The wedding ceremony started in the Orthodox Church, and it involved ritual religious singing and praying mainly conducted by the priest and deacons. Of course, dancing is not appropriate in the Orthodox Church. Crowning of the bride and groom was beautiful and gave a sense of being special like a king and a queen. The prayers spoke of blessings, harmony, love, obedience, and sacrifice. The praying was vocal by off tune and unnecessarily good sounding voices of the priest and the deacons who were all males.
The praying in the Orthodox Church is more important than good sounding music or voices. The guests often replied to the priest and the deacons’ singing by a similar off tune, mixed up notes, and not really pleasant to the ears voices. The song has a slow, monotonous chanting character. It was precisely similar to the chanting of the Tibetan monks in their temples. The Orthodox Church did not have music, there was no orogen, harp, violin, or piano. One deacon used a metal triangle and a metal stick which produced a small bell-like sound. Another deacon used a handheld larger size Talam or small Cymbal, and it created a sound of small splash Cymbal. The church wedding ceremony lasted more than one hour, and I was delighted it was finally over. The bride and the groom did not say a word during the entire service.
The praying in the Orthodox Church is more important than good sounding music or voices. The guests often replied to the priest and the deacons’ singing by a similar off tune, mixed up notes, and not really pleasant to the ears voices. The song has a slow, monotonous chanting character. It was precisely similar to the chanting of the Tibetan monks in their temples. The Orthodox Church did not have music, there was no orogen, harp, violin, or piano. One deacon used a metal triangle and a metal stick which produced a small bell-like sound. Another deacon used a handheld larger size Talam or small Cymbal, and it created a sound of small splash Cymbal. The church wedding ceremony lasted more than one hour, and I was delighted it was finally over. The bride and the groom did not say a word during the entire service.
Church songs and musical instruments vary from a culture to another. The Egyptian Orthodox Church singing is very traditional and did not change since established. The church has been chanting the same lyrics and tunes using the same musical instruments for 2,000 years. The performer who is the priest is considered a holy man with spiritual authority. People loved and respected his performance regardless of his musical talent. They believe his singing is definitely a blessing in their life. The Copts interaction with the Church songs is definitely on a different spiritual level from a concert audience.
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