Meru is a minor but a varied tribe containing some of the oldest civilizations on earth. It is home to a wide diversity of religions and cultures, and this colorful diversity is reflected in its diverse and colorful weddings traditions. If any one wedding tradition might be said to be indicative of the African continent it would be the importance of family. A meru wedding is, more than anything, the bringing together of two people as a single family, or the combining of two families or even the mixture of two tribes into one family unit. The concept of family is one of the unifying ideas of the African continent. If a man wishes to see his sons well married, he must have numerous sheep, goats and donkeys. When marriage negotiations are underway, …show more content…
Similar to our custom of sending wedding invitations and expecting gifts in return, he makes the rounds of relatives getting contributions for his bridal herd. Each day for a series of wedding days there is a special event. During the night before the first day or wedding day, the groom arrives at the bride's homestead so as to pick her belongings they referred to as “box picking”. Usually that was all if the suitors met the demands from the relatives. There are many steps that take place before marriage starting at a very young age where training takes place in how to be a suitable partner. Girls would many times go to circumcision schools where women taught them what is involved in marriage, and in meru they learnt secret codes and languages so that they can communicate with other married women. Divorce is rare in African marriages. For you in overseas, it will be IMPOSSIBLE to accord your friend a Kimeru marriage. I also highly doubt it will be recognized by authorities. Kimeru marriage as we know it is a process. It is not something you do in a day by 'accepting the bride/groom'. It may prolong even longer than a year before it is …show more content…
In modern Kimeruland, this takes a day. The relatives of the boy would give whatever they came with and promise to bring the rest later. During the final dowry payments, a goat and a sheep would be slaughtered and eaten. The shoulder blade may be cut then or on a subsequent visit. to summarize further in meru there was no wedding in the sense of a wedding day. There was (is) a marriage which is a long process.However, if you want to serve food, mokimo or kithanda(a kimeru dish) should never miss. If you like alcohol, I doubt Canada will give you a license for marwa(fermented beer).If you want dressings, they are no longer worn in Kenya and I doubt the bridegroom has ever seen any. If you want songs, a Kimeru wedding is accompanied by ululations and songs by women. I doubt you can get enough choreographed women for that. But I know what you can definitely give them and they will be happy about it.....a honeymoon in Meru . Problems in a marriage are often discussed with both families and solutions found. Often entire villages join in to help a couple find solutions to their problems and keep a marriage from failing. Marriage is sacred the world over, and that is definitely true in Meru, no matter which region or which culture you come from, and no matter what your religious beliefs. In fact, many cultures have a special totem that is designed to remind a couple that cultural and tribal differences must be allowed for in order to make a
The two will share one of everything, and the Bride is also forced to forget other people. The reason for all of this is because now the Bride and Bridegroom can now have love for their marriage. Bernard using his allegorical approach, helped others understand his way on what his sermons on the “Song of Songs” and creating metaphors on different situations pertaining to God and also the importance of love in knowing service to God were all about. Bernard assists in breaking down and examining what the “Song of Songs” title and meaning is, the interpretations of the kisses and the indication of the progression on the souls, dividing up the classes of the four spirits, and identifying and explaining more in depth the Bride being the soul and the Bridegroom being the Holy Spirit.
Wealth and family status was a determining factor upon marriage. Women were expected to have a dowry from their family that would allow them to be auctioned off to suitors. The marriage market was much like the stock exchange in that it allowed
First, the parents of the groom must visit the bride’s parents at their home to ask for their daughter’s hand. In the visit, the groom’s parents take the bride’s parents cigars to smoke as they discuss about the marriage. The bride’s parents then inform the groom’s parents they’ll talk to their daughter to see if she actually wants to get married. So they say to send their son between two to four weeks.
Nuer and American wedding’s result in the two extended families coming together and unite as one (Holtzman: 2008, 73). Nuer families are involved in the involvement of payment of bridewealth cattle, usually getting between 25 to 40 animals, from the family of the groom to the family of the bride (Holtzman: 2008, 73). The purpose of the bridewealth cattle was to connect her father from her groom’s father and to make children from the marriage. In America, traditionally, the bride and the groom often get gifts from all family members, but they would not get animals. They usually receive currency or household materials. Nuer weddings are not arranged like traditional Nuer marriages. Many of the times, the couple are usually friends or lovers before marriage (Holtzman: 2008, 74) which is similar to American culture.
These tattoos and piercings were important in the Kumeyaay culture to guide them to the right path after death (40). It was also traditional for Kumeyaay girls to live with their parents until a man asked to marry her. It was customary for men to propose by bringing the family food and presents. If the gifts were accepted, a party would be thrown to announce the union (55). These traditions were integral to the Kumeyaay people, and when they stopped upholding them, the
Union between two quarrelsome objects can be the most amazing creation in certain situations, take for instance, water. Originally, water was just hydroxide and hydrogen ions, but together these two molecules formed a crucial source of survival for most walks of life. That is how marriage can feel, it is the start of a union that without this union the world would not be the same. A Hmong mother, Foua took it upon herself to perform a marriage ceremony for the author of “The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down”, Anne Fadiman. In this miniscule event, two cultures with completely conflicting ideas came together to form a union. In this union, an American was celebrating an event in a Hmong way, truly a collision of two cultures.
When Trobriand couples are interested in getting married, they spend time, live together and also have intercourse together. The parents of the girl accept her future husband once she starts to accept gifts from the
To legalize a marriage it must be done at the mayor's office in a city, which is rarely done. The family often has influence in the choice of a marriage partner. Typically, the women’s family look for men who will be able to provide for them, while men choose women who will wear children and keep their home. Girls are sometimes promised at a very young age, although the wedding does not take place (if at all) until after puberty. Gabonese parents do not pressurize their children to marry someone they do not like. They leave it upon the children to find someone right for them. However, they do consider the capability of the person their children selected. The Gabonese generally marry within the ethnic group but mostly outside of their village, to avoid marrying relatives. People usually get married on their 30s. Dating is looked down upon by the society, and the couples dating tend to hide their relationship from their parents. When a couple is wed, they traditionally move to the husband's
has to go to the woman’s side and ask her parents for permission to be wed. The man has
Despite people celebrating marriage in different ways it all comes back to one thing; marriage is a social ritual that by which two people affirms one abiding contracts between. The ceremonies are composed of rituals which symbolize facets of married life and the obligations being undertaken. In Hinduism the marriage celebration can start weeks before the actual ceremony depending on the preferences of the family. Once the day of the ceremony comes around the day starts with the brides’ family welcoming the groom into their home and both families are formally introduced. Both the bride and groom sit at the Mandap- tent where the ceremony is held under,-and are offered a drink. Gifts between the two families are generally exchanged at this point. The groom's mother gives an auspicious necklace to the bride, which is essentially an emblem of the married status in the Hindu religion. Then scared fire is lit and a pundit recites t...
A wedding is a great social event in our society, which establishes a new bond between two individuals and families. Marriage is a joyful occasion with plenty of music, dance, partying and merrymaking. It also brings together long-lost friends, relatives and acquaintances. In India, the parents choose the mate for their child, which is called an arranged marriage. In most cases, the bride and groom do not even talk to each other until after they are married.
Though both Africans and most of Americans attempt to build families once marriage is part of the equation; traditional Africans don't necessarily marry for love. They
He also includes many traditions about the wedding ceremonies. Weddings usually include drinking over palm wine and guests bringing kola nuts. When the wedding between Akueke and her groom is over, Achebe says, “It was the day on which would bring palm-wine not only to her parents and immediate relatives but to the wide and extensive group of kinsmen called umunna,”(110). This is a tradition that not only does the family get presents but so does all the guests. Not is only the family included in on the traditions with the presents, but so is everyone attending the wedding. The weddings aren’t just about the bride and the groom, it’s about everyone who comes to celebrate. Danny Busch gives details about how the weddings and how their ceremonies took place. He describes the wedding ceremonies comparing the wedding to a piece of fruit. Him representing the flavor of the fruit as love and companionship
Three different Western marriage customs have influenced the characters in the story "Marriage is a Private Affair" by Chinua Achebe. It is about a Nnaemeke and Nene. Nnaemeke was an Igbo but Nene was from a different part of the country. They fell in love and Nnameke proposed. Then Nnaemeke got a letter from his father telling him about an arranged marriage that is being planned. Very disappointed, Nnaemeke comes home and tells his father that he will not get married to anybody, except Nene. Nnaemeke was kicked out from his father's house and wasn’t wanted there anymore. Happily married, Nnaemeke and Nene, had two sons. They wanted to see their grandpa and wouldn’t stop asking to visit him. When Nnaemeke's father read the letter about his grandsons he couldn’t stop himself from thinking about them. At last he was beginning to open his heart for his son, daughter-in-law, and his grandsons. The first custom was that the parents arranged marriages for their children. Nnaemeka's father had arranged a wedding for him with a girl from his culture. The second custom was that love was not part of the marriages. All that mattered was that she had to be a good Christian and had the potential to become a good wife. The third custom is that the woman had to be raised from the same culture. Women from other cultures were not welcomed in Igbo culture and families. These three customs had a huge affect on Nene's and Nnaemeka's lives.
He usually arrives dressed in his wedding attire on the back of a horse, or sometimes on the back of an elephant. “The wedding altar (mandapa) is built the day of and the groom is welcomed by his future mother in law where his feet are then washed and he is offered milk and honey. His sister in law will attempt to steal his shoes and if she succeeds, the groom must pay her to get them back” (beau-coup.com). At the wedding venue the bride waits for the groom in a room covered in garland, when the groom arrives they exchange garland. After this, the brides family will welcome the grooms family to the wedding. Like Christian weddings, the father of the bride gives the bride away at the wedding, this is called a Kanyadaan. A priest will facilitate the marriage by reciting mantras or holy hymns, but the bride and groom marry each other. The bride and groom are considered married when the groom ties a thread that symbolizes his vow to care for the bride. He ties it in three knots that symbolizes the gods, Brahma, Vishnu and Masheshwara. The ceremony takes place around a fire and the god, Agni is considered the witness to the union. “The bride and the groom then circle the fire seven times, in a clockwise direction, called Saat Phere which signifies seven goals of married life which include religious and moral duties, prosperity, spiritual salvation and liberation, and sensual gratification” (Gullapalli