Family Pictures

Last month we met up with a photographer and had family pictures taken. It was a bit of a pain because we traveled up to Granite Flats up American Fork canyon - and they are doing construction up that canyon right now. Yikes!

We ended up with some darling pictures, so in the end, it was worth it. My only regret is that Brandon doesn't look like this anymore. Oh well, next year.

Provo River Falls

At the beginning of the summer a neighbor told me about these awesome waterfalls that are up past Kamas. I put it on our summer bucket list to do. Well, that didn't happen during any of our summer weekends. But, we made it happen this Saturday. It was a long drive 1 hr 40 minutes each way. But, we split up the trip by stopping to eat ice cream in Heber. It was one of those amazing days where you just feel so grateful for everything. The kids were happy, the car got us there and back safely, and we had a wonderful time while we were there. We even got to see snow. That was a surprise. Especially because the boys were in shorts. Thankfully, we made them get shoes on. Typically they are wearing flip flops.

On the way home, we stopped at two campsites that Brandon might take the boys too next summer. It was a fun way to also split up the way home. I am SO thankfully for my darling family. The boys are at such a fun stage. They generally go along with anything Brandon & I want them to do. On this trip, they really had a marvelous time. It makes me excited for snow come to our house.

Scouts - Make it move

1. My Dad and I created an exploding craft stick reaction.

2. We worked on learning about pulleys. We made one that helped us life up the tv remote.

3.  I made a seesaw. It wasn't hard because we used one that we have in the game Smugglers. Then we played around with stuffing things in the putty and seeing how the seesaw balanced.

4a. I drew a Rube Goldberg machine.

Scouts - Robotics

1. Identify six tasks performed by robots:
-A frozen yogurt machine
-Cars
-Computer parts
-Animitronics at Disneyland
-Cook dinner
-Sew clothes

2.We talked about the froyo machine that my Dad bought for his work.

3. I built a robot hand

4. I built my own robot.

Building a computer

Our family computer has slowly been dying for the past two years. This month, we finally decided it needed to be replaced. Thankfully, Brandon was up for the challenge of building one from scratch. It saved us at least $500. We think this one will last until the kids go to college. At least we hope it will. Peter was beyond excited to help Brandon put it all together.

Fieldtrip with Papa

We got the chance to go with Brandon at the Loveland Aquarium today. We went with our homeschool friends, the Thomas'. Peter and Talmadge always have a blast together and today was no exception.

Luke loves the sloth, so I was super glad that we were able to get a video of him actually moving.

Scouts - Fellowship & Duty to God

1. Duty to God means to believe in him and to do what he asks us to do and to be kind to other people like invite people to church.

2a. I decided to learn more about President Russell M. Nelson. I learned that he was a heart doctor. He also had only one son and lots of daughter. His first wife also died, but he got married again. I also know he likes to go skiing.

3b. For two weeks I worked on saying prayers better and helping my Mom with a daily chore.

Camping with the Family

Brandon was awesome and took the boys camping a lot this summer. Here are pictures from both of the extended Thomas campouts. The first was is in Nephi canyon - the second is at the San Rafael swell. The boys had a fabulous time on both trips.

The cousins have a wonderful time together every year. Nephi canyon.

2nd trip

Luke and Brandon. This year Luke would only go in the commander since last year they had that accident where they flipped a 4 wheeler. He looks so adorable in that helmet.

Peter playing on abandoned machinery.

Luke loved the Bunderson's dog so much on this campout. Brandon has been researching dogs ever since coming back. While a dog would be amazing for Luke, I don't know if I could handle one.

The school assignment that wasn't

I had this assignment due at the end of last week. By the time Brandon had finished proofreading it, my teacher had cancelled the assignment.  I was so mad. I had spent over 5 hours on this assignment. Since my teacher will never see it, I'm going to put it here for posterity sake. 

I realize you won't know the questions I am answering, but you'll get an idea of the type of writing I'm doing every week. This is just one assignment, and we have three writing assignments due every week. Plus, chapter reading and a quiz. This class has kept busy every afternoon. The hours of 2-4pm have become "moms school time". The jury is still out on whether taking a college classes is a good thing or not.

Berber Wedding Festival

ANTH 1010

Fall 2018

Laurie Ann Thomas

1. This film was wonderful in describing a Berber Marriage festival. The film began by talking about the people who participate in the festival. It gave us an overview of the subsistence practices and economic practices of these people. The people live, primarily, in the high alp areas of Morocco. They are mostly a nomadic people divided into tribes and clans. Each tribe and clan are independent from one another. They even have their own specific dialog of speech. Every year, in September, a festival is held for the surrounding tribes and clans. The primary reason for the festival is to bring together couples who wish to marry each other. However, the festival also hosts vendors and traders from the surrounding areas. The festival dates back over 500 years, and the organizers take their job very seriously.  Over 30,000 people attend this annual event. The market organizer has a very specific way of setting up the stalls. Each type of trader has their own area. For example, the restaurants have their area, the animal sellers another area, the grain merchants another, and so on and so forth.  It was hilarious when the film showed a trader that had picked his own spot and refused to move to the correct area. Luckily, the market organizer was able to enforce the request with the assistance of military personnel. Yes, the government takes a vested interest in the festival too. There is also a designated prayer area. When it was time for the traditional Friday prayers, there were so many participants that an expansion was quickly erected to accommodate everyone. This important religious activity is rigorously followed, even during festival times.

One participant of the festival was a women’s co-op group. The women are hoping to establish a degree of independence for themselves by working together. Their leader, Fatima Mamou, said in order to break even at the festival, she would have to sell 800 loaves of bread each day. However, the festival is more then a place to sell goods and legally be married. It is also a place where you can meet potential mates. Fatima talked about how she hopes to one day marry too. She says she wants to marry a kind and beautiful person. She mentioned that while divorcee rates are high in this culture, they are just as high in other cultures too. It seems that more and more young people are choosing not to marry at the time of the wedding festival because of the influence of technology and other forms of media.

The film went on to show the home of the bride and the groom. I was touched by the care the groom was making to ensure his future wife would be satisfied in her new home. The groom’s family built an expansion to the main house for their son to live in with his new wife. This showed us the common practice of the bride going to live with her husband’s family. In other words, they will live in the patrilocal residence (William A Haviland 2017). The groom was giving the entire home a fresh coat of paint – a bright orange color. The groom said that he hoped the bride would like the color. His father told him that if she didn’t he should respect her taste and change the color. The was a tender scene because if showed that the grooms father respects women, and specifically, his son’s future wife. I love that he is teaching his son to treat his wife with respect. Later in the film, we saw the groom’s father cleaning the family bull before taking it to the market to sell. They were selling the cow to gain the money they needed for the wedding. As it showed him carefully washing and combing the cow, I thought about how this was a representation of the care he would give his future daughter-in-law. He was putting in an extra amount of effort to ensure that they cow would fetch the highest price. We also saw the groom spending his time working on the family farm. I was amazed to see the modern sprinkler system installation they had to water their crops. This shows they have allowed industrialized practices to improve the work load they have on the farm. However, the harvesting of the crops is still done by hand, and the groom’s mother is excited about having another set of hands around the house to assist in all the work.

In the bride’s home, preparations are also happening. Sugar, clothing, and henna were sent by the groom’s family. These items are part of the negotiated marriage contract.  The bride’s mother accepts the fact that her daughter is getting married, but she said she will miss her daughter.  Since the bride’s mother was an orphan she is particularly concerned about the happiness of her daughter. Since she will be living at the patrilocal residence she will not be able to see her daughter often. The mother then brings out the special marriage costume. It is a simple woven blanket that is worn, by the bride, as a cape. The pattern on it symbolizes the subtribe she belongs to. The colors of the blanket (black, red, and white) also symbolize peace and an open heart. On the day of the wedding, her father drives her to the marriage festival without any other family members going along.

2. The Berber marriage rules are not overly complex. The bride and groom in our story had only met twice before they went to the festival. Once was to be introduced to each other. The second time was when they met to make the marriage contract. The film mentioned that Berber bride’s do not bring a dowry from their families. For this reason, the groom works hard on the family farm, so he can purchase the needed clothing and carpets for his bride. The film also mentioned sugar, clothing, and henna being sent to the bride’s family from the groom’s family. This is part of economic exchange is common among Berber families preparing for the marriage of their son. There was also an economic exchange when the bull was taken to the market. Although, the film never showed the bull being sold, I’m assuming it was. I came to this conclusion when the couple went shopping immediately after the ceremony to shop for new clothing. Later in the evening, after their marriage ceremony is complete, they wait for transportation back to the home of the groom’s family. The family celebrations will commence when they arrive. In this culture, they practice patrilocal residence (William A Haviland 2017) which is shown by the bride and groom waiting to go to the groom’s familial home.  I also found it interesting that the government plays an important role at the festival. While there, many steps must be followed by the couple in order to ensure that their marriage is legally recognized by the government. I found it interesting that the governmental agencies setup an assembly line system to process the 38 marriages that took place on the day of the festival. Additionally, the day before the couples were also required to show up at a specific place so their paperwork could be double checked for accuracy and completion.

2a. The 2004 the government in Morocco passed the Mudawana code. This code has changed many legal issues related to marriage in this part of the world. According to Wikipedia the code outlined “…reforms included raising the minimum legal age of marriage to 18 for men and women, establishing joint responsibility for the family among men and women, limiting the terms of polygamy and divorce, and granting women more rights in the negotiation of marriage contracts”  (Mudawana - Wikipedia 2018). The film highlighted the story of one couple at the marriage festival that wished to get married, yet the bride was only 15 years old. In order marry, the couple paid to receive help in writing a specific marriage contract between these two individuals. Their plea also had to be approved by various governmental individuals, and their parents.

This law is similar the laws established in the State of Utah, where my native culture resides. Couples wanting to get married are usually at least 18 years of age. If they are not, the following chart breaks down the requirements for getting married in Utah. (Utah Courts - Marriage 2018)

 

Marriage to a Minor

You must be at least 15 years old to be married in Utah. If you are over 18, you do not need consent to get married. If you are 16 or 17, you need signed consent from a parent or guardian, which must be given in person to the county clerk before a marriage license will be issued.

If you are 15 years old, you need consent from a parent or guardian, and:

·         The juvenile court must approve the marriage, and must conclude that the marriage is voluntary and in the best interests of the minor.

·         The juvenile court may require premarital counseling.

·         The juvenile court may impose other conditions, such as requiring the minor to continue to attend school.

If you are under 18 but you have been married before, you do not need consent a second time.

This information has been insightful.  The other culture group I researched in relation to marriage law, was the Chinese. They have the highest legal age requirements. Females must be 20 and males 22.  Even with the age restrictions, the website I reviewed said “The average age for marriage in 2001 was 24 for men and 23 for women. In the cities today the average age is approaching 30.” (Marriage in China - Facts and Details 2008) As I ponder the significant difference in age between the Chinese culture and mine, I think of how this policy is impacting the Chinese economy in many negative ways.

3. On a higher level, the Berber ceremony isn’t much different than the ceremonies of my native culture. They start with a contract between two people. In my culture, the first steps toward a potential marriage is dating. An implied contract begins as two individuals begin spending time together. When they conclude that they want to get married, a ring is typically given to the bride, by the groom. This exchange is similar to the Berbers presentation of gifts before the upcoming wedding. Then, similar to the Berber’s, the ceremony is prepared for, a special place is located, legal documentation is completed, new clothing is purchased, and finally the wedding day occurs. After the ceremony, couples in my native culture host a party for family and friend that typically span the rest of that day.  A honeymoon period is also traditionally observed among members of my native group. Nothing I saw, in this film, related to this cultural norm. Additionally, members of my native culture typically do not go and live with the groom’s parents. Most of the time, they establish a new neolocal residence together. The groom’s parents also don’t typically depend on their new daughter-in-law to work alongside them in the day-to-day operations of the family business.

4. Overall, the marriage practice of the Berber people has changed significantly for the rising generation. More of them are being influenced by technology, media, and tv. This has introduced new (Western) ideals and ideas which make the old traditions seem outdated. The film mentioned couples not wanting to be married at the festival, as well as couples waiting to be married until they have accomplished their educational plans. One festival participant also talked about how he doesn’t want to marry any of the women in his endogamy tribe because the women are prone to smoking and drinking. Instead, he wishes to marry a woman from a nearby exogamy tribe because they work hard and have good thinking patterns. Marriage patterns have also been forced to change with the passing of the Mudawana code in 2004. Fewer child marriages are happening, and women rights are legally mandated because of this code.

References

2008. Marriage in China - Facts and Details. Accessed October 12, 2018. http://factsanddetails.com/china/cat4/sub20/item110.html.

2018. Mudawana - Wikipedia. August 28. Accessed October 12, 2018. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mudawana.

2018. Utah Courts - Marriage. 1 11. Accessed October 12, 2018. https://www.utcourts.gov/howto/marriage/.

William A Haviland, Harald E.L. Prins, Bunny McBride, and Dana Walrath. 2017. Cultural Anthropology: The Human Challenge 15th Edition. Boston: Nelson Education.

General Conference - Oct 2018

This is me and the boys snuggled up listening to General Conference. This semi annual Conference has been historic! It was announced that Sunday church meetings will be condensed to 2 hours, instead of three. My boys will probably never remember three hour church meetings. This change will impact my calling in primary. It appears that they will only have singing time now, instead of both sharing time and singing time. Thankfully, the changes won't happen until January 1st 2019. That will give all of us time to figure out the details of this new schedule. My biggest question is in regards to the Sacrament meeting primary program. Will they still have them annually? It would be amazing if they didn't. The stress of preparing for them is real, and at times intense.