Yemen weddings air on live TV to avoid virus shutdown

SANAA: The Yemeni grooms sit expectantly inside a TV studio, waiting for their wedding parties to be broadcast live so that families and friends can join in the celebrations despite a coronavirus lockdown. The pandemic has forced weddings to be scaled down or cancelled across the world but in the Yemeni capital Sanaa the traditional folk music and dancing have been beamed into people’s homes instead. Well-wishers call into the satellite channel Alhawyah to offer their congratulations to the grooms, dressed in their finest clothes and with rifles propped up next to them and traditional daggers tucked into their belts. As the number of coronavirus cases began to rise in war-ravaged Yemen, Alhawyah — Arabic for “identity” — began hosting wedding parties with the aim of reducing guest numbers and preventing the spread of the virus. Participants are sprayed with disinfectant before entering the studio for the all-male gatherings, where a popular band performs. Before the pandemic, weddings in Yemen were lively affairs that drew hundreds of guests — both men and women but separately in line with tribal tradition. The men spent the evening chewing qat, a mild narcotic that is a mainstay of Yemeni culture. Presenter Abdulwahab Yahya said the idea of the show is “to keep the bridegrooms in good health and to help them enjoy their weddings despite coronavirus”. “Instead of guests coming to wedding halls to greet the bridegrooms, they can phone and greet them during the two-hour show,” he said.