WINDHOEK – Many young lovers from northern Namibia have been taking advantage of the December holidays to exchange wedding vows at ceremonies that have become commonplace. Young couples also prefer tying the knot over long weekends such as the Easter weekend.
Over Christmas and Easter multitudes of Namibians spend a substantial amount of time imbibing and feasting at weddings. Although the practice has been seen as an ideal opportunity for the employed and other guests from far-flung areas to get together, a church is putting a halt to weddings that are held over the festive season. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia (ELCIN) Western Diocese in Northern Namibia has passed a resolution that prohibits people marrying during the festive season and over Easter. The decision was taken following the complaints by many pastors that there are so many weddings taking place during those periods that they put severe pressure on the congregation pastors to concentrate on other church activities directly linked to Christmas and Easter.
Speaking to New Era in Windhoek yesterday, Executive Secretary of ELCIN Western Diocese Pastor Paulus Heita said the resolution was taken to preserve the tradition of celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ at Christmas and observing his death during Easter. Heita said it remains the church’s will that young people get married and start families but wedding ceremonies should be well prepared and scheduled in a way that do not disturb the traditional activities of Christianity.
With many pastors complaining about being overloaded with work during the festive season, some have also complained that wedding ceremonies are overshadowing Christmas celebrations, which is celebrated by going to church and spending quality time with the family.
“Now families do not get a chance to spend some time together during Christmas due to wedding ceremonies of their relatives and friends,” Heita said.
Heita said it was then decided that no parish in the whole Western Diocese should accept to marry couples from December 23-26 , on New Year’s Day and during Easter. “Pastors do not get time to prepare their congregations for these important days, as they have to attend to weddings and funerals, this is surely to preserve our tradition,” elaborated Heita. The diocese also wants the bereaved families to plan the funeral of their beloved who pass on close to the festive season, in a way that it would not be conducted over Christmas or Easter.
The resolution only applies to congregations that fall under the Western Diocese, which covers parts of Oshana, Ohangwena, Omusati and Kunene regions.
According to pastor Halolye Nashinga of the ELCIN Eastern Diocese, however, many of its pastors have also raised similar complaints during meetings. He said although the Eastern Diocese has not yet discussed the matter at leadership level, if such complaints become too many the leadership would look into the issue and probably pass the same resolution.
Heita is calling on all congregations to abide by the resolution, which he says will allow Christians to observe such festivities in a good faith. Statistics of people who were recently married by ELCIN were not available by the time of going to press, as Reverend Eliakim Shaanika who is in charge of the records was on holiday.
Heita said compared to ten years ago, the situation has changed drastically with some congregations having to wed more than 10 couples on the same day.
In 2010, ELCIN officiated over 1 688 marriages while in 2011 this figure increased to 1 777. Of the 1 777 marriages – 991 were recorded from the Western Diocese and 786 from the Eastern Diocese.
By Tonateni Shidhudhu