Greetings Hivers
Today I'll sharing with you how traditional marriages are being done in my tribe which is the ijaws in the southern part of Nigeria.
Traditional wedding ceremony: Although white weddings and court marriages are practiced quite the same all over the world, traditional marriages are different for each people, tell us about it, how it is done in your tribe, we would love to know.
Agreement between the man and the woman: in the ijaw culture they don't force people to marry, before you can think of marriage in the ijaw land, you should have found someone you want to marry of which the both you have agreed to spend the rest of your lives together, it also means that the both of you are compatible.
However someone's parent can pick a wife for their son to marry but only with his consent.
If the man and woman has agreed on everything, then they will relay it to their families independently and the families will have to carry out background check on each other, if the result comes out positive then the traditional marriage rites continues.
Introduction: After the bride and the groom has agreed to get married then the next step is the introduction, in the ijaw culture the introduction can also be called " Ware ogiga gbolo" which simply means "to knock" that is why most persons from the southern part of Nigeria call it "knocking of door" they will be like today am going to my friend's knocking of door.
The introduction is meanly for both families to get to know each other.
Source: https://images.app.goo.gl/CKquLrdNHeTPriX67
The groom together with elders from his family visits the bride's family to make their intention of marrying their daughter known to them, the groom's family is expected to come with gin and some other beverages.
After this is being done then the bride's family will give a list containing items that are expected of the groom to bring when coming for the traditional wedding ceremony. The list is called " Ijaw traditional bridal list".
The list consist of
- A bottle of gin
- Box of clothes
- Money for the parents of the bride
- Money for the maidens
- Attire for the parents
- Money for the brothers
The items on the list can also be provide in monetary terms.
Traditional wedding ceremony
This is the main event and the one everybody has been waiting for, the traditional wedding ceremony can be held anywhere, it is usually a colourful event.
Source: https://images.app.goo.gl/51uELy2YKJmR8bFG7
The bride's family inspects everything that was brought by groom's family to know if it matches the items on the list that was given to him, after that is done then the event starts properly.
The bride will be brought out and will be accompanied by some other maidens having their face and body covered with wrapper, then the groom has to select his wife.
"me saying to myself what if the groom picks someone else thinking it was his wife what will now happen".
After the groom has picked his wife in the midst of the others, then he will be offered a seat to sit, then the bride will be carrying a frowny face, the bride's family will be asking the groom what he did to their daughter that she is not smiling again that she was smiling before this occasion. And the groom will have make the bride smile.
After that the bride will be given a glass of drink to look for her husband in the congregation, once she finds him she will take him to her family's table where the bride's father will have to bless their marriage.
After that the occasion is rounded up with singing, dancing, eating and presentation of gifts.
Thank you for reading..