sasak's wedding ceremony.  when gendang belig [the big drum] is in the air, when the locals walking on the street with their colourful traditional attires and the kids are 'busy' themselves with kecimol [small cart with tape recorder and  loudspeakers made by their parents], here we are! in the middle of a sasak wedding ceremony. which held like a carnival.

we are just so lucky. mostly in our trips to lombok, we can find this traditional wedding procession of the sasaknese.

so vibrant. so colourful. and can be seen how traditional procession still alive nowadays.

pictures (c) ukirsari and nicholas ingram

the procession start from a term called 'merari', where the bride and groom must be runaway to another village.

then the chieftain will tell to the family of both sides to arrange a ceremony with the big drum.

after 'meeting up' amongst families, the groom will pick up the bride and they'll walking along the street which divided into two groups. groom's and bride's. just like a carnival.

nicholas took pictures from the left side on the back of the groom's, whilst ukirsari took pictures in the front of the bride's group.  

and how friendly the locals can be seen by their invitation towards us to join the ceremony.  but honestly, the newly-wed looks so nervous :)