Specific African Wedding Traditions

As previously mentioned, diversity in African wedding traditions is a result of the presence of various tribal groups and influences.  Pygmie engagements are not long and are usually formalized by an exchange of visits between the families concerned.  The groom can take his bride home to live in his band after he has given a gift of game or a few arrows to his new in-laws.  However, he would have the obligation to find among his relatives a girl that would be willing to marry a brother or male cousin of his wife.

In the small city called Lamus, located at Kenya, wedding festivities typically lasts for a whole week with two separate celebrations for men and women.  The bride is shown to the public after the wedding and this ceremony is considered the grand finale of the passage rite of entering the married women’s world.  It has become a particularly popular ceremony because it is an opportunity for women to meet and have a good time without their husbands.

The Black African Arab people called the Baggara practice the tradition of the man giving bride wealth to his new wife’s parents usually in the form of cattle.  This is not a price for the bride but more of a compensation for the loss of a working family member and to legally confirm the marriage.  They also adhere to polygamous marriages but the first wife is often one of the cousins of the man, preferably on the father’s side.

Marriages in Egypt are announced by a procession of drums, bagpipes, belly dancers and brandishing of flaming swords.  A mother or another close female relative usually takes charge when a man starts looking for a wife.  Parents can have their daughter’s betrothed with a man without her approval but this can only happen if they haven’t reached puberty.  After this stage, girls are free to choose the man they want to marry.

In the Kalahari Desert, parents pay particular attention to the kinship and name relationships of the prospects when they seek a suitable companion for their children.  A lot of negotiations and gift exchanges take place before the actual wedding.  The groom is expected to live with the bride’s family at her parents’ village for a number of years to hunt for them.