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Cultural practices on marriage
Wedding traditions from different cultures
Cultural marriage practices
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On this very day of the traditional marriage ceremony, the groom must have been informed on what he is wearing no matter your religion, culture, ethnic group, tribe and your race on that very day of the traditional marriage ceremony the groom will be dress as an Urhobo man. The bride's family would welcome the groom and his family with drinks (alcohol), kola nuts, alligator pepper and even with money would be presented to their in-laws.
After the initial customary entertainment and rite and proper introductions are done, the visitors are asked of the purpose of their visit through the bride's family spokesman, the visitors will tell them that they have come to marry one of their daughters for their son, who may even not be around.
After the bride's family accepts the explanation, another traditional
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We are having all these details brought to you because a typical Urhobo wedding is often misrepresented by those who are not properly acquainted with the necessary procedures of their tradition.
Because of this too and to show that they are not sleeping over the seriousness over the matters involving their marriage traditions, the people of Urhobo had even embarked on a huge project to have it put on the world's view for proper documentation and for record keeping purposes
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.
One custom of Umuofia that would be very different from Western culture is Polygamy, the practice of having many wives. This custom is practiced in the connected nine villages of Umuofia. In fact, a man's wealth is partially measured by the number of wives he has. A wealthy man described in Things Fall Apart, had nine wives and thirty children. Okonkwo had three wives and eight children.
The bride is then assisted in adorning herself for the public ceremony which begins with a feast at the family’s home.
respect. Achebe shows this through the palm wine ceremony at Nwakibie’s obi, “Anasi was the first wife
To create this new relationship they borrowed a ceremony from the Wyandot, a form of the athataion, or a Feast of the Dead. This Feast of the Dead lasted fourteen days; each filled with dancing, games, gift exchanges, ritual adoption, and arranged marriages between members of the different bands in attendance.” This part of the text describes the delicate process of uniting the tribes who were past enemies, creating a valuable alliance crucial to survival. What this passage fails to tell us more about are these “arranged marriages.” Arranged marriages have been a method for thousands of years of as way of demonstrating unification among different peoples. This practice goes back as far as Alexander the Great. There is no better way of bringing two different peoples together than by making them family and connected through a shared offspring. When looking at the role gender plays in this relationship we see that a man and women from different backgrounds are coming together to form a new cultural identity of the future. Future generations will
The men that come to Umuofia destroy the cultural balance of faith and religion that encompasses the native people in Africa. People in Umuofia depend strongly on the ancestors and gods in their culture. It is their tradition and their beginning, from which they govern their lives. Even the priestess that serves the god Agbala, "...was full of the power of her god, and she was greatly feared" (16). Without the stronghold of customs and traditions, only chaos exists. Peace, trust, and knowledge are thrown off when the new religion of Christianity is introduced. When the missionary explains that:
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...
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
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.
The Umuofia tribe could not handle difference, they could not fathom the idea of two children born at the same time, so instead of accepting the circumstance with
Achebe uses the symbol of tribal drums to show the flourishing culture and life that Umuofia experiences before the Europeans arrive. The symbol of drums is often present during cultural gatherings and celebrations in Umuofia. During the feast, which marks a new harvest year, “drums [are] still beating, persistent and unchanging. Their sound [is] no longer a separate thing from the living village” (104). Drums distinctly relate to the culture and traditions of the village. Moreover, the “persistent and unchanging” beat to the drums also reflects the unity of the society, and how the tribe currently operates (104). These traditions are unique to Umuofia and are an integral part of African culture. However, this unchanging and pe...
...wedding have similarities and differences. Even though they are celebrated by different cultures it ends up meaning two people end up getting married. The ceremonies might be different but it is similar to each other in the way that both end up with a newly wed couple. Learning about this open my eyes on how people celebrate their weddings and how beautiful it must be to see how each culture celebrates a wedding.
Johnson, Diane. Traditional Marriage in Africa: The Dowry. 7 October 2010. 11 May 2011 .
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