Marriage culture in Nigeria is an interesting ceremony which is made up of different protocols and steps which is influenced by the traditions and environment. In Nigeria, marriages are conducted differently as regards to the sects or culture. In order to describe the average Nigerian marriage, this will be done focusing on the three major Nigerian cultures which are the; Yoruba, Hausa and Igbo culture. The religion is also an important factor that serves as a determinant in Nigerian wedding. That also influences the steps that a man needs to take before getting a woman.
In a Yoruba culture two steps are usually important for a marriage to occur. These are the engagements and wedding ceremony. The engagement is usually made up of the introduction aspect and the actual engagement ceremony. The Yoruba’s marital introduction event involves a form of simple formal ceremony involving the families coming together to meet one another. This makes it enable the two families to know each other. It is usually done by selection of some form of elders that are made to get involved in the introduction process. The introduction is prepared for by the bride's family while the groom's family members come for the visit.
The groom's family will be entertained during the visit. How hospitality was being practiced is an important part of the Yoruba culture (Busola Tejumola). It is during this introduction part that the date for the engagement will be selected and announced. Engagement ceremony in Yoruba culture displays different aspects of the Yoruba culture (Yorupedia). This engagement is usually considered as one of the most important parts of the wedding ceremony. It is usually tagged as the traditional marriage whereby the couple is joined together traditionally. During this occasion, the groom will have to pay some form of "bridal price" which the bride's family will receive before the wife is released for the husband. This bridal price creates some form of formal bond or payment done to cover the aspect of giving away of the bride by the bride’s parent.
There are several things that are incorporated into the occasion to make it interesting. These include; singing, dancing, laughing, blessing and praying. The steps in the engagement ceremony are listed below: Presentation of the request (request letter is from the groom's family), presentation of acceptance letter (from the bride's family), the groom then arrives, followed by the bride's arrival, then presentation of different gifts, rings and hat, introduction of family members and then cutting of engagement cake. These steps are the required steps by the groom before taking the hand of a Yoruba woman. The traditional norms that usually guides the engagement and weddings relates to the fact that there are certain materials that are also made to be unique for the wedding. For instance in the Yoruba engagement wedding, there is a unique kind of clothing the couple would have to wear for the traditional wedding. This is usually called the "Aso Oke". There are other materials such as; honey (oyin), alligator pepper (Atare), groundnut cake (adun), local wine, kola nut, bitter nut, palm oil, salt, and yam. All these materials are required by the laws or norms of the wedding for the engagement ceremony. This engagement list will be provided by the bride's family and the groom's family will have to provide all materials for the ceremony.
Another important aspect of the ceremony which is the norm is that of the prayers that would be done for the couple. This is usually done by using the materials. Some of the materials will be used to pray for the couples according to what the materials are known for. Considering the two other traditions that are popular in Nigeria (Igbo and Hausa), their traditional weddings too are somewhat similar to that of the Yoruba. This is in terms of the need for the traditional wedding before any court or religious wedding (either church or the Islamic wedding). This is because in the Igbo traditional wedding, there is also a need for the bride price that the family of the groom must pay before the bride can be handed over to the groom. In the Igbo culture, the bride price is taking so much seriously compared to the Yorubas or Hausas. This is simply because of the amount of money that is usually required that the groom family need to pay before the man can take over the woman. At this Igbo cultural wedding, the groom will have to pay large sums of money and also buy all the traditional wedding list contents.
The Hausa traditional marriage is based majorly on Islamic marriage simply because of the population of the Islams in the region. This is also made up of the introductory part which has been found to be of short duration and less expensive in terms of the wedding list and other requirements. The "wedding Fatiha" is an aspect done at the house of the bride (Josfyn Uba). At this event, the marital vows are taken and the prayers are offered by the priest. It is after this event that the other aspect of the wedding will then follow (Mugaji Fatsuma). Although there are some other cultural sects in the Hausa land that are engaged in some other aspect of the tradition but all still point to the fact that there is a need for some form of introduction, engagement and marriage proper.
Taking a deep perspective into the steps and stages involve in the traditional weddings that take place in Nigeria for a man to marry a woman, this wedding ceremony shows that an average Nigerian traditional wedding which involves paying of bride price, buying of engagement wedding list materials, prayers done by various family members, priest and those associated steps shows a more integrated process of having a marital accomplishment. American wedding does not involve this type of traditional wedding stages described above because of the American culture which does not involve any payment of the special bride price or any form of special or separate engagement (traditional wedding). Although there are some form of traditional wedding which are done differently from the white wedding. This is common with the Hindu, Christian and the Jewish within the American culture. This is still not like the Nigerian weddings.
Work Cited
Busola Tejumola.The Yoruba traditional wedding and engagement. Namywedding. Web. 19 November, 2013.
Josfyn, Uba. Marrying of traditionally, the Hausa way. The sun newspaper. 4 October, 2013. Web. 20 November, 2013.
Mugaji, Fatsuma. The Hausa cultural marriage. 16 February, 2012. Web. 20 November, 2013.
WordlyWeddings. A Worldy Glossary. African American. Web. 21 November, 2013.
Yoruba Bridal Engagement. Yoruba Traditional Engagement Ceremony. Web. 21 November, 2013.
Yorupedia.com. Marriage. Yoruba Family. Web. 21 November, 2013.
