This tradition is more common in southern African countries, in Botswana when a man proposes marriage to a woman , both families would have to meet to make arrangements of how the marriage is going to proceed . At first the grooms uncle and other elders on the grooms family including the father are the ones responsible of taking the proposal worlds to the brides family, sometimes it can be hard to enter the compound at the brides place as they would want gifts or in the form of cash just to let them in to hear out what they have to say, to start negotiations they will also request gifts or money for them to give an answer if they indeed accept the proposal or not.
Strict traditional norms and ethics are highly practiced and proceeding are done with caution, if the brides family agrees there comes the major price to pay before the proceedings of the wedding ceremony could even begin, the "bride price",. Bride price can be paid in a form of cash , gifts and mostly paid in form cattle , the most common number of cattle to be paid in Botswana is eight (8), this price can however increase depending on how the negotiations proceed, some families can go to the maximum of 55 cattle , depending on the woman's educational background, the family the bride if from example . from a royal family,however almost all African men pay to get the woman they want to spend the rest of their lives with, because of this some argue that its the main reason why marriages in this African region do not fail, whats your take??
