i'm a married woman!

Today the school had an optional field trip to a Mayan weaving cooperative in a nearby village of San Antonio so I decided to go. We learned about their weaving techniques and how they teach their 8 year old daughters how to weave and by the time they are 4 they are weaving super complex patterns. Then they said they needed a couple of volunteers, two men and two women, so I stood up. Then I learned that I would be getting married! And i didn't even know my fiancees name (I still forget)!  They dressed us up in the ceremonial clothing, and we danced for 12 hours... just kidding only like 1 minute but apparently in the real deal they dance and party for 12 hours straight. and its pretty boring dancing if you ask me. I would probably fall asleep. Anyway then I had to make an offering of a weaving to my mother-in-law and we exchanged other gifts. Apparently there is a whole year between the engagement and the wedding because the bride has to weave all these things for her husband's family. 

Then I had a baby! They strapped a doll onto my back and i had the experience of trying to balance that plus a ceramic jug on my head. It was impossible. I think the point was to make us understand how much work it is to be a mother in this tradition. It is a lot of work. And back in the day they used to have lots and lots of babies. Apparently they still have lots because I met these ob-gyn surgeons who are here to work on prolapsed uteruses (uteri?) in women who have had a lot of babies. Anyway I am very grateful that my life is very different.