Staff photos/Richmond Talbot

The bride - Yasmin (Jasmine Chambers) dances as part of the Twelve Tribes wedding festivities. She married Saturday at a wedding held by the Plymouth community of Twelve Tribes off Rocky Hill Road. A Twelve Tribes wedding takes the form of a drama or "preen actment," of prophesied events.

By Richmond Talbot
MPG Newspapers
Saturday, the Plymouth Twelve Tribes community held a wedding on the property of local resident Roger Randall of Guide Board Road, off Rocky Hill.About 250 members of the group and their guests attended the marriage of. Yedidiah (Solomon Chambers) to Yasmin (Jasmine McShane).
      A Twelve Tribes wedding takes the form of a drama or "pre-enactment," as they call it, of prophesied events they believe will, happen in the near future. Unlike other weddings in which the bride is the star of the show, the groom is an important figure in a Twelve Tribe wedding. He represents Yahshua; which is their preferred name for Jesus.   

Staff photo/Richmond Talbot

Wedding Dance -- Yasmin (Jasmine McShane) and Yedidiah (Solomon Chambers) dance together at their wedding.

The drama proceeds through various scenes, in this case set up around a pond on the Randall property. In the first, the groom sits on a throne surrounded by friends and relatives who represent a "Cloud of Witnesses" who accompany Yahshua in heaven. He is waiting for the bride to purify herself. "Is my bride ready?" the groom asks.
     In the next scene, Yahshua is in the clouds, represented by hanging sheets. Portraying the church, which is secluded from its enemies, the bride is hidden.
     Randall, who is not a member of the group, said later that his neighbor stared from her back porch, puzzled to know why a young woman in white was crouching in the undergrowth of the woods between their two properties. At the groom's call, the bride came running out of the woods to join him.      Symbolically, Yahshua and his church are united. They and their allies take part in a dance representing the battle of Armageddon in which they defeat the forces of evil, which fall to the ground. The groom as Yahshua then breaks the seal of a gate into the New Jerusalem, and the couple passes through. Next come singing, dancing and a festive meal. The bride and groom now occupy a single throne. Unlike most weddings, the marriage takes place at the end.
     Marriages in the Twelve Tribes Community are arranged by the families of the bride and groom with their cooperation. The parents of a young man may ask him if there is a young woman he is interested in marrying. If so, they convey this to her parents, who inquire if the feeling is reciprocated. When all is agreed, the families arrange a betrothal ceremony in which the couple joins hands.
     A highlight of the marriage ceremony is the kiss. The groom does not kiss the bride; she kisses him as a symbol of her submission. The act is doubly significant because it is the first act of intimacy between them other than the holding of hands that began at betrothal.
     The Community in Plymouth, as the local group calls itself, lives communally in a large old house on Warren Avenue, formerly a nursing home. The group runs the Common Sense store oh Main Street.
     Twelve Tribes does not call itself a religion, but believes it is preparing the way for the kingdom of God on earth. It is modeled on the first century church.

~ © MPG Newspapers and used by permission ~