Traditional wedding engagement (Wafrica Guest Post)

This piece below is Authored by
@emekasegun , edited and posted by @mcsamm for @wafrica.

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I Haven gone to so many weddings across different State in Nigeria.
Today I will be talking about a particular wedding traditional Engagement list and process of marriage.
In this modern world, a lot of advancement has been added to marriage ceremonies, compared to the ones we had in the past.
I will be sharing with you a particular tribe marriage procedure from the western part of Nigeria. The YORUBAS.

The culture of this western part of Nigeria (Yoruba), is full of mythology, pageantry and colours. Majority of people are combining both old tradition and modern trends.
Yoruba traditional marriage is not just a time to join two individuals, but also an event or occasions for people like family, friends to reunite and catch-up on current happenings.
The traditional marriage is an occasion to allay the drudgeryof typical life and are great foreseen by friends and well-wishers.

Below are the steps in YORUBA Traditional marriage will be discussed extensively.

THE INTRODUCTION

The families of the both the bride and groom meet before the engagement ceremony take place.According to tradition,where the groom visit the bride in company of his Father and some family members. This is actually an informal introduction just for both parents to get to know each other, and it does not require much effort, and the groom family must offer few bottles of wine and basket of fruits. The brides family also welcomes the visitor with some soft drinks and a meal. They might also discuss when the date and event would take place, this situation might take place probably later.

ENGAGEMENT CARD, GROOM AND BRIDE'S OUTFIT:

When the date is chosen, the groom and bride prepare an engagement card that is addressed to both families. This special card usually includes the name of bride and groom, the date of the wedding, RSVP information, the venue or venues, and the wedding’s colour code, the venue would be an event centre like a large open ground with canopies erected on it, hall.
The decoration for the event will be contracted to a professional called Event planner, whose going to decorate he hall according to colour combination by both parties.

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Bride’s Outfit: The bride's outfit will be a reflection of what the guest will wear, this wears is usually consist of Nigeria wax fabric, damask, lace, or which ever on that appeals to her. The outfit must consists of gele, which is the head tie, and buba (the blouse) and an iron which is a large material tied around her waist, with other accessories worn on her like , gold necklace, beads, bangles, gold earrings and shoes.

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Groom's Outfit: His wears also could be an Agbada which is a two layered material of heavy dimension like Aso-oke (traditional material) the material could be a lace, damask or even wax fabric (Ankara) his colour combination should complement the Bride's and and family.

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Engagement lists (item)
This is considered to be one of the major part of the wedding, for the Bride's family that the Groom must provide.

I attended a wedding ceremony in Ado-Ekiti state a Western part of Nigeria, the Bride's family are wealthy and well known in the community of Afon Alaye in Ekiti State.
During the traditional engagement, it got to a part were the Eru Iyawo was to be presented, the father of the Bride checked out the smoked catfish that was included into the List, starred at the fishes, and said that the wedding has to be paused, until they bring the large smoked catfish on the list, the wedding was actually paused until the large fish were brought.

According to people in the community, said the Bride's parents has the habit of including smoked CatFish into the Engagement List of his daughters, and yes…… he has a lot of Girls, at this particular wedding the Cat-fishes provided were extra-ordinarily small.

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•Engagement Ring
•‎ 1 box/suitcase of assorted clothes.
•‎ 1 Bible
•‎ An umbrella
•‎ 1 bag of Salt
•‎ Honey 1 bottle
•‎ Palm oil and Vegetable oil (25 Litres)
•‎Sugar cane
•‎ Fruits
•‎ Bitter kola
•‎ Kolanuts
•‎ Yams (42 tubers)
•‎ Rice (1 bag)
•‎ Maize/Corn cake (Adun)
•‎ Alligator pepper (42, Atare)
•‎ Wine
•‎ Soft drinks
•‎ Yoruba traditional wears
•‎ She goat (pregnant)
•‎ Bottled water

Bride price: this is usually given to the Bride's family in a form of cash for some traditional customary rites during the engagement ceremony, which is based on instruction.
This Engagement List slightly varies depending on the place, but not much difference.

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