Traditional Weddings in Africa

In many African cultures it has become the norm for couples to have two wedding ceremonies: the traditional ceremony and the civil/religious one (often known as the white wedding because of the western-style white dress worn by the bride). These traditional ceremonies differ in various cultures, although all of them include the extended families of the bride and groom and often a bride price. We take a look at various wedding customs from around the continent.

IN IGBO LAND

The Igbo wedding ceremony is widely known as 'Igba Nkwu Nwanyi’ - which loosely translated means the Wine Carrying. According to Igbo wedding traditions, prospective grooms are expected to provide a generous dowry to the bride's family ahead of the wedding. The dowry is stipulated by the bride's extended family. On the day the bride is accompanied by other unmarriedwomen.

IN YORUBA LAND

Yoruba couples wear Aso-Ebi on their wedding days. Aso-Ebi is the name given to traditional Yoruba garments worn by the bride and groom and their parties, the parties will all be dressed in the same colours and traditional fabrics. Yoruba weddings feature an Ijoko (a sort of Master of Ceremonies) who is usually a woman. She will generally introduce the bride and groom's families to each other formally and will encourage the groom and his friends to prostrate themselves before the bride. She also coordinates the payment of the dowry.

IN HAUSA LAND

The Hausa cultural marriage is based mostly on the Islamic marriage, starting from introduction to wedding proper. Unlike other cultures, the introductory part of the Hausa marriage is brief, not time consuming, and less expensive. When a man sees the girl of his choice he first seek for permission from her parents, after which the girls parents will have to make some kind of investigation about the man regarding his background, moral ethics and of course his religious believes, before he is allowed to see the girl only when found eligible. According to the Hausa tradition, the man is not allowed to spend a long time in seeing the girl and this is done to avoid any physical and or romantic contact, courtship before marriage is not encouraged in the Hausa tradition. Once the girl accepts the offer, the man sends his parents or guardians to formally seek for the girl’s hand in marriage. 

Seeking for the girl’s hand in marriage varies amongst the Hausa people, as earlier mentioned, there are other ethnic groups having different modes of marriage introduction, nevertheless the most common method used includes, grooms parents or guardians visiting the girl’s parents with certain gift items, i.e kolanuts, candies and chocolates and in some cases bags of salt. During this visit which is an occasion on its own, the groom’s make their intention known thereby introducing the boy, his background and profile, the bride price or dowry is made through bargain starting from the minimum of what the Hausas called “Rubu Dinar”, its an Arabic phrase translated as “quarter kilogram of a gold piece” to the highest amount the man can afford. The wedding date is also set which is agreed upon by both sides. Bride price or dowries are preferred not to be very high or expensive, it is part of the teachings of Islam that the less amount paid as bride price or dowry produce the most blessed marriage.


IN AHANTI 

In the Ashanti wedding tradition, the groom and the male members of his family will visit the bride's male family members and knock on the door. It is customary for the groom's party to be kept waiting for a while before they are allowed in. Thereafter the two sets of male family members will negotiate a bride price before the bride and the female family members are allowed to enter. Some families will present the groom with decoy brides before the real bride makes her appearance. The bride must then formally accept the groom and his gifts and then the couple are blessed and the reception party can begin.

IN KENYA AND TANZANIA

The Luo of Kenya and Tanzania call their traditional marriage, which allows a groom to take multiple wives, Ayie. The custom, like many other traditional marriage customs, is concerned with the bride price primarily. Among the Luo the mother of the bride plays a key role - as it is her who accepts the bride price and allows the ceremony to go forward. There is then a second ceremony where the groom must give cattle to the bride's father.