THE IGBO TRADITIONAL MARRIAGE CEREMONY

The traditional marriage between a man and a woman in the Igbo culture is usually a unique one to witness. Each tribe in Africa has different ways of celebrating marriages according to their culture, but today I will share with you how Igbos celebrate their marriages using my younger sister, who just got married some days ago, as an example.

The first step in taking action when a man and a woman agree to marry each other is to make their intention known to both families. After which, the families will do a background investigation to be sure that the family they are giving their daughter or son in marriage does not have any bad records. When this stage is over and all parties are satisfied, a date will be fixed for an official introduction. This will be a mini-event, with a few elders present to witness the event. Some people pay dowry on this day; our culture accepts this too, and so my sister's dowry was paid on the day of her introduction. The big day for her traditional marriage and white wedding was fixed, a day where the public would get to know her and many would gather in the house of the bride to witness the marriage ceremony. For some people, they have both church weddings and traditional marriages celebrated on different days, but for my sister, she celebrated hers on the same day. However, the church wedding was just low-key; it ended in the church, while the traditional marriage ceremony took over her day and was celebrated in grand style.

Few highlights from her church wedding

The latest couple

---

---

---

---

A night before the bride's wedding

---

---

>Myself, my baby sis and my elder sis

Now, the traditional marriage ceremony proper

The first stage is welcoming the groom with his friends and family, but there is usually a rope tied in a way to block their entrance. It's part of our tradition that before the groom's family has access to the bride's home proper for the event, he will need to send some money to the bride's maid; the money is regarded as transport money to go get his bride herself. When the bride comes, she will have a traditional bouquet and a traditional cap to wear to greet the groom, then cut the rope after the groom has sprayed some reasonable money on the bride. See the shots for the warm welcome 😃

---

---

Here, my sister wore the husband a traditional bid, both in his hands and neck and he danced in excitement 😊

He put on the traditional cap as well as a sign of welcome.

At this point, the groom was jumping and dancing knowing well that he is much welcomed but my sis refused to cut the rope still 😃...the groom became confused and kept spraying her more money 😅 including his friends inorder to have access to the event. Of course it was a deliberate act from my sister just for fun 😊

At last, she gave them access by cutting the rope 🪢. The ogene group (music group) did their very best at this stage. They were playing very hot. Traditional songs and the whole place was buzzing.. people were dancing in excitement of the access they have...it was a very interesting session to witness.

The traditional music group

---

---

After cutting the rope, she welcomed him with a hug but I missed the shot, bad photographer 😂

They were now dancing together to the main venue for the occasion

When everyone must have settled down, there will be a short romantic session where the bride will feed the groom with an egg 🥚. The cooked egg is usually being sold by the bride's made to the congregation while the bride peel one and feed the groom in the midst of everyone....I couldn't stop laughing at their drama here...lol

If you notice, each stage requires a different traditional attire by the bride. After the feeding session, there comes a stage where the clan will invite the bride for questioning. The eldest of our clan asked my sister publicly if truly she is in for the marriage and if the public should take drinks on her head and she answered a big yes. This question is a must, even if it's obvious that she wants the marriage, she must tell the witnesses same before proceeding to feeding the wine to the husband.

Here the eldest gave her palm wine to go search for the husband wherever he is seated, feed him with it a bit while the husband feed her as well and then both will come back to the elders for blessing of their marriage.

The questioning time as explained above

Issuer of the palm wine to go search for the husband

The searching session accompanied with the bridesmaids and the traditional music group at the background.

The feeding of the wine by the bride

The feeding of the wine by the groom.

Here, they knelt down as the elders bless their marriage as they returned the cup with money inside of it..a must tradition.

Now the most important part of the ceremony just passed and the next was cutting of the cake. This is a beautiful cake designed traditionally by my twin brother's wife. She is a baker and good at her job.

The couple had another romantic session here while cutting their cake. They made some promises to each other and had their cake cut together in love and in excitement 😊

They were in the stage for dancing session while the congregation spray them money 🤑💰...it was another interesting part where I got everything in video form.

That's me on glasses..lol

That's me spraying them money in the stage.. hehehe, hive dollars 💰😂

Wow...at this point, the occasion was almost over and the last lap was meant for the two families. The handover stage, where the bride family will handover their daughter to the groom eldest son with a word of advice to help take care of my sister and encouraged them to live in peace ✌️🕊️. This stage was also emotional as both the groom and the bride hugged each with tears of joy and with the saying "finally,we are married" ...they have wanted the marriage for few years now, glad it is done.

So this is basically how traditional marriage ceremony is being done in my tribe Nsukka in Igbo culture, Enugu state Nigeria.

Thanks for your time in my blog, I hope you get some info on our culture today.

Please note, all pictures are mine