Saturday, July 07, 2007

a funny little cultural interlude


Earlier, as Ed and I were walking home from the Sullivans' (for those who are interested, please note apostrophe usage ;o), we heard a wedding party approaching. In Germany, the custom is to drive from the wedding to the reception in a long procession of cars, honking all the way. So wedding processions are always audible from quite a distance.

Ed and I decided to stop at our gate and wave at the cars as they passed. Pretty soon, we saw the lead car bearing the married couple. We waved at them as they drove by honking, and they waved back. The bride gave us a big smile, and we could tell that she was pleasantly surprised that we stopped to wave. (Very few people stop to wave at wedding processions nowadays.)

So we kept waving at the other cars as they passed, and everybody waved back and honked. Then the procession started slowing down as they stopped for a red light, and we turned to go into our building. As we reached the door, we heard a single loud honk behind us, and we turned around to wave again.

A older couple was leaning out their windows to wave at us. The man called, "Watch out! You two will be next!"

We both laughed, and I yelled back, "We already are!"

The two of them laughed, then kept driving. It was a cute, funny moment.

:o)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

That's a funny story, Court, thanks for sharing it... I kinda like that German honking tradition for newly married couples. Maye that's the German in me! I never thought about waving at all those cars, but maybe I should do that next time...
Love ya, Nine

thegermanygirl said...

It was a fun moment, Ja-9, thanks for reading it! ;o) I enjoy the German tradition of honking, too...and I can recommend the waving as well, because the wedding party is so happy to see others sharing their joy.