African Wedding Tradition

There are many individual countries within the continent of Africa. There are numerous cultures and subcultures in Africa; more than 700 different languages are spoken. Therefore there are many unique African wedding traditions, more than can be covered in one short article. This discussion of African wedding traditions is not comprehensive. It will give you an overview of tribes in Dahomey, the people who live along the Nile River, and Pygmy African wedding tradition. African culture is extremely unique and complex. The only people who truly understand all its nuances are those who have experienced it firsthand.

In Dahomey, Ghana, there were no fewer than 13 different sets of vows; and 13 is the age most girls are considered marriageable. Because ancestry is important, marriage between persons of different classes is forbidden. In Dahomey, thin girls are not worthy of marriage to the son of a king. Any girl selected for marriage to the king's and must be fattened on milk until hardly able to walk. This is not the only place in Africa that subscribes to the theory that a fat wife is like a fat cow. Both are more desirable than their thinner sickly counterparts.

Pygmies have short engagements formalized by the visiting of each family. The groom supplies pheasant, turkey, or other wild game. He is obligated to find a female relative who will marry one of his new bride's relatives. Male pygmies are also permitted to marry as many wives as they can feed.

For some Africans who reside along the Nile River, African wedding tradition dictates that a man must have plentiful donkeys, goats, and sheep. Each of the bride's relatives will receive gifts of livestock from the groom. The challenge is that the groom needs enough remaining livestock to support his new marriage. The groom collects livestock from each of his own family members in order to pay the dowry of goats, sheep, donkeys, and cattle.

The African wedding tradition of those who live along the Nile River also provides for several days of festivities surrounding the actual wedding day. On the day of the wedding, the groom wears a leopard skin and cowhide cape and nothing else. These people do not ordinarily wear clothing other than feathers, necklaces, clay, and ash. They may wear sandals. The bride's attire consists of only an apron and half-skirt. Sacrifices may be held to ensure good fortune and a happy marriage before the bride moves into the home of her new husband's oldest wife (this tribe is polygamous) until a new home is arranged.