Overview Of Traditional Weddings In Nigeria
Growing up in Nigeria, I have had the pleasure of attending quite few wedding during my time there and the multi-tribal nature of Nigeria makes weddings more interesting and unique. Nigeria, a nation blessed with different cultural groups, but the Igbo, Hausa and the Yoruba are the major ones. The groups share between them different cultures and traditions; however, Yoruba traditional weddings interest me the most besides my own tribe’s cultural wedding. The Yoruba culture of western Nigeria is full of the traditional beliefs and customs which have been conveyed from one generations to another by several means of communications such as word of mouth, drawings, color, and ceremonies. The Yoruba people are known to be easy-going, friendly, very cosmopolitan, and contemporary, finding ways to combine old traditions with more modern themes. With strong impact of social media and technology, Nigerians are well exposed to western world and their ideas, the Yoruba people tries to integrate modern customs into their own traditional marriage ceremonies. Within the Yoruba tribes, wedding time is a time everyone to show off their clothes, handbags, jewelry and even express how much they can dance.
First, before the traditional wedding takes place, the groom with his families and friends visits the family of his bride to seek from her parent her hand in marriage. Customarily, this is just a pleasant prearrangement by both parents so they can all get to know one another. The family of the groom while on their visits offers gifts to the family of the brides to show appreciation to them for allowing their daughter marry their son. Most of the time, the gift offered to the family of the bride are pretty much standard such as some tubers of yam, box of wine, cookies and few other farm produces. Also on the visit, the groom’s family offer bride price to the family of the brides, which is like a symbolic offering for asking for the brides hand in marriage. Once the introduction is completed, the traditional wedding date will be set. Usually, this is the duty of the bride and the groom to come with an invitation cards and idea that will charm both parents to agree. This is very important because the invitation card conveys significant information such as the date of the wedding, the venue, the name of bride and groom with their parent’s surname, RSVP information, and, most importantly, the color for the day from both families. The bride’s family may choose a different color from the groom’s family so that on the wedding day each family is represented by a color. After the venue and the decorations are sorted out, catering which is also a big deal is next on the list. Presently in Nigeria, catering business is a big deal and the caterers are usually very professional in their conduct. The assorted delicacies usually served at most Yoruba traditional wedding includes, Jollof rice, fried rice, ofada rice (locally grown rice), moin moin ( A washed, grounded, and steamed beans) meat pies, chinchin, pounded yam, amala, fufu served with fried or roasted chicken, meat, fresh fish, or catfish.
On the wedding day, the groom and bride’s family along with their friends and well-wishers sits across each other inside the venue. Once everyone is seated, the traditional wedding starts with the letter reading, which is read by a young boy from the groom’s family asking for the bride's hand and the bride's family also responds with a letter of their own read by a young girl from the their family accepting the request. After that, a contracted specialized professional called the Alaga ijoko which means traditional master of ceremony (MC) takes over the event. This person could be a member of the bride’s family or a complete stranger but not from the groom’s family. This Alaga Ijoko is always a woman and her duty is to properly preside and organize the events so that each provision of tradition is firmly observed. The Alaga Ijoko coordinates different stages during the course of the event. Each stage might involve collecting cash which the Alaga Ijoko ends up keeping. As the ceremony proceeds, the Alaga Ijoko calls for the items listed for the engagement to be presented. The items sometimes varies slightly in each Yoruba traditional wedding, but the general articles are the same.
- Box of sugar
- Sack of rice
- Alligator pepper
- Bitter kola
- Sack of salt
- Kola nut
- Bible or Koran depending on the religion
- Honey large tubers of yam
- Big suitcase filled with lace material, shoes, wristwatch, a gold ring, a head tie and other items.
Afterward, the Alaga Ijoko then call on the groom and his friends to properly announced to the bride's family. The groom and his friends dance forward from the venue’s entrance all the way to the front at the center where both families are seated across each other to bow or prostrate to both parents. First he bows or prostrate to his parents to thank them for all their supports since his birth till the very moment and then he bows or prostrate to his bride’s parent and family to thank them and formally request for their daughters hand in marriage. After all of this is done, he is left in prostrating position till his friends and family are able to raises him up with cash. Usually, his family will also hire a professional too called the Alaga iduro, which also means a master of ceremony who follows the groom and family to plead for the hand of their daughter. The Alaga Iduro is also a qualified guardian of yoruba traditional wedding. Sometimes, she’s one of the family members or she could be hired just for the traditional wedding like the Alaga Ijoko. The Alaga Ijoko will start asking the groom questions about his bride which in most cases, he is able to answer, then after that, she will ask he musician to start playing some music and at this point, the groom’s friends and well-wishers will start throwing money to the ground negotiating on his behalf to stand up from the prostrating position. Once all requirements are met, the groom is allowed to stand up and sit in one of the two large chairs noticeably placed in front of the guests. The chairs are craftily decorated in the ceremonial colors chosen by both families for the occasion.
Once the groom is seated with his friends standing behind his chair, the bride is then asked to dance into the hall with her friends and bridesmaids. The bride also goes through a few code of behavior; however, money is only given to her and not taken, as in the case of the groom. Before she is introduced to the groom’s family, she too will go down on her knees and thank her parents for all their supports since her birth till the very moment then thank her husband family for accepting her into their family and then assumes her place beside the groom. At this stage they may consider themselves married. The bride usually feeds her groom with either cake or some small chops and drinks to show everyone that she is capable to feeding and taking care of her husband and after which she gives him a kiss to the delight families, friends and well-wishers.
The entertainment might consist of a celebrity master of ceremony who could be a member of the family or a professional. This master of ceremony is usually comedian who coordinates the event with jokes to entertain the guests and also introduce the live band or disc jockey to further entertain the guest more. The traditional wedding up to this point has been contracted and the only thing left is to dance, feast, and make merry. The band is usually ethnic but combines contemporary popular songs blending with both English renditions, Yoruba native tongue, and talking drum. The most popular music genres played at such traditional marriages are juju music, afro juju music, high life music, gospel music, hip hop, and current Nigerian sounds. The cake is the responsibility of the bride. She chooses one that best complements the joyful occasion. It could be chocolate or multi-layered butter with regular icing. The cake might have small figurines of the couple or a simple inscription of the bride's choosing. The cake-maker tells the guests about and the cake's contents just before the cutting. Usually, the bride and groom's ends the occasion by dancing, after their dance, the traditional wedding comes to an end. The ceremony may be recorded on video and photos taken while the occasion is in full swing. The end is characterized by taking photographs the families, guests, friends, Yoruba traditional marriages are seen as occasions for family members to reunite and catch-up on current happenings. They are fun-filled and meticulously planned events that announce to the world the union of loved ones.
