Even as my heart races, I push his hand away. Meryam has dreamed of this day for years.” He brushes my tears away with his fingers, letting his touch linger on my cheeks. I have no life if I go-?or if I stay.Īhmat moves toward me, and I don’t have time to stop my tears. They’ll take away my registration card and refuse to issue me a marriage certificate. ![]() If I refuse to go, they’ll deny me my schooling. I stand among the idle looms and let my sorrow flow from my eyes. Today there is more interest in dancing and eating than in the weaving of ikat. I dance my way to the edge of the crowded courtyard and slip inside the weaving room. Wait until after Meryam’s wedding, I pleaded, and the teacher agreed. The local cadre will come speak to Father. I’ve been given the honor, my teacher said, of working in a factory far away in southern China. Courtship? Wedding? Those words are no longer meant for me. They must think I’m shy, for I don’t look up. I lower my head to hide my pain as Ahmat slowly turns his arms and feet away and joins the other dancers. Her words are picked up by those around us, even though the others know that Ahmat and I intend to continue our studies, so there is no plan for a wedding yet. You will be next,” Aygul teases as she dances at our side. I force myself to think only of the repeated taah-te- ta-tah-tah of the beat-?over and over-?until the high-pitched chant of my little sister, Aygul, breaks through. But we are dancing together, our arms, our feet intertwining, almost touching. I pretend not to see him, and with my arms raised I slide in among the dancers. Then we spill out into the courtyard for the last rituals of the three-day celebration, during which Ahmat and I have been so busy catering to Meryam’s needs that it has been easy for me to avoid being alone with him. She is expected to cry, to be scared and unsure, but I hear giggles behind the thick white covering that she must keep over her while the musicians play and sing of how the new couple will never part.Īt last the cloth is lifted. I slip inside the house, where her mother and I will provide the familiar hands to help her slide from the carpet to her seat on the floor beside her new relatives. A bonfire burns in front of the groom’s home, and they whoosh her through the leaping flames to show how she will endure the hardships of married life. ![]() They carry Meryam, crouched, her head covered, in the middle of a richly colored carpet that they hold by its four corners. We approach the opened gate of the silk maker’s compound to the steady beat of the musicians, who now pluck louder and louder on the strings of their instruments while one finger-drums the taut leather of his dap.Ī rush, and Meryam’s brother, Ahmat, and three other male relatives break through our gathering. I try to erase the intruders from my mind as my arms move gracefully in wide waves and my feet keep the pattern of our dance. Four attendants are in the lead, and I am one of them, leading the gathering past the policemen and cameraman who have been assigned to attend our ancient ritual-?which is still allowed, though I’m certain that’s only because it’s good for the Chinese tourist website. Now the three days of her wedding are coming to a close as the bridegroom’s family and friends take the bride from her home to the home of her new husband.Īs we come near, we hop from the donkey carts that have carried us and form a procession. I try to celebrate Meryam’s wedding as if it is the happiest of times, and it is, for her. Delivered to me, personally, by my teacher. ICLE (International Center for Leadership in Education)Ĭustomer Service & Technical Support Portal ![]() Into Algebra 1, Geometry, Algebra 2, 8-12 Science & Engineering Leveled Readers, K-5
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