Every human race and ethnic groups as their tradition and ways of doing this, which is mainly unique to their people, and this as overtime distinct each ethnic group from the other, because by merely witnessing the ways some people do things, or how they dress, you can tell where and which race or ethnic group they are from, and in this article today, I'll be taken you through the Yoruba people's traditional wedding rites.
It's worthy of note that, before anyone proceed into marriage, then there must have been a cordial agreement between both the man and the woman to spend the rest of their lives together, and once that is ascertain, then they can proceed with the wedding ceremony, well it isn't that straightforward in the Yoruba people's traditional, as there some steps to be taken and items necessary for the occasion.
Fun fact:
As a man if you get married to a woman in church or court and you didn't do a traditional wedding, such individual is seen as a thief in the Yoruba people's culture.
If fact it's believe that you can take your bride home once the traditional wedding is done, even if the church/court wedding as not been done.
so without further ado, let dive into the Yoruba people's traditional wedding rites and process.
MOMI N MO (INTRODUCTION)
The momi n mo is the first step a man must take, after he as reach an agreement with the lady of his choice for marriage, and it's a process whereby a man inform his family about his love affairs with a lady, then the parent and some family members of the man will pay a courtesy visit to the family of the lady, and introduce themselves and their purpose of coming, just like it's commonly said;
Man family: *we've seen a beautiful flower in your garden, which we'll love to pluck for our son.
Lady family: (will bring out all their female children, if they have more than one, and let the man point to the one he came for).
The bride parents will be enquire from their daughter if she loves the man and ready to spend forever with him, and once she agrees, both family with then debate on the date the wedding should be fix, and the bride family will give the man's family some list of items they must bring during the traditional wedding.
LIST OF ITEMS NECESSARY FOR TRADITIONAL WEDDING.
All items that is given to the groom's family all has it significantly, as it'll believe that they will aid the prosperity of the marriage.
Here are some of the items;
- Yam
- Honey
- Salt
- Goat
- Palm oil
- Sugarcane
- Alligator pepper
- Fruits
- Bride price- which is one of the most important of all, it doesn't mean they want to sell their daughter, but a tradition, and the money demanded may not even be upto a 50cents.
TRADITIONAL WEDDING ATTIRES
I've once posted about the traditional wedding attires of the Yoruba people, so to avoid plagiarism or recycling of content, I'll list some below from my past post.
ASO OKE/OFI
The Aso Ofi is the traditional Attires known and common to the Yoruba people since ages past, it's a hand woven fabric, although modern machine as been made to make its production easier and faster. It can be use to make the following;
I- *Gele (Headgear also known as scarf or Head tie)
II- Fila ("Cap" mostly worn by men)
III- Buba (Blouse also known as shirt or Top)
IV- Agbada (The big cloth worn on Buba, it's commonly worn by the men)
V- Iro (Wrapper or Skirt)
VI- *Ipele (Shoulder sash or shawl)
All the above listed are Aso Oke or Ofi fabrics.
For further reading and understanding read through the Traditional Attires of The Yoruba People // A case study of Yoruba Traditional Wedding Attires.
TRADITIONAL WEDDING DAY
Once the stage is set on the day of the traditional wedding, the groom will dance into the place alongside his friends, and will be welcome by some elderly wives in the bride family, then he'll be question of his purpose of coming, once he answers that correctly.
Then he'll be asked details about the bride, like her name's, her state of origin and her family linage etc.
Even if he didn't get it all, he'll be allowed to proceed into the event center after he and his friend as pay a fine for failure.
Another thing is can, the groom must not put on his cap when going into the traditional wedding, else he'll be fine.
After all is be met, he'll proceed to greet the bride parents, who will then pray for him, before he'll be lead to sit and wait for his bride to be.
The bride will then dance in, and go to her parents for prayers, after which she'll proceed to a groom's family for another set of prayers, before dancing to her groom's, and then place a cap on is head, which signify that, she as made him her head from that moment onward.
Those are the main activities of the traditional wedding, after after which foods and drinks can be serve to everyone present. And then the couple dance together and go home happily.
Some of the foods serve at a Yoruba traditional weddings are;
- Amala
- Rice
- ewedu
- efo and many more.
I hope I've been able to equip you with enough knowledge about the Yoruba people's traditional wedding rites?
- what have you learn from my article?
- which is almost they same with your tradition?
- Tell me about your traditional wedding in the comments section, or join the features topic of the
Community and share yours.
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