We can not do the same thing and expect different results! - Food for thought
Today's topic is about the Urhobo Traditional Wedding Ceremony
But first........ yes you know a bit of history 🙂
The Urhobo is the major ethnic group in Delta State. Delta State is one of the 36 states of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The Urhobos speak the Urhobo language. The Urhobo culture is related to several cultures in the Niger-Delta,the major group of the Urhobo lives in the Delta State.
The Urhobos live very close to and sometimes on the surface of the Niger river. Thus most of their histories, mythologies, and philosophies are water-related.
Annual fishing festivals that includes masquerades, fishing, swimming contests, and dancing, are part of the Urhobo heritage. There is an annual, two-day, Ohworu festival in Evwreni, the southern part of the Urhobo area when the Ohworhu water spirit and the Eravwe Oganga are displayed.
The king in an Urhobo clan or kingdom is called the Ovie. His wife of the queen is called Ovieya and his children Ọmọ Ovie (child of the king also known as prince and princes).
The Urhobo Traditional Wedding Ceremony
Urhobo traditional marriage is unique to Urhobo culture and traditions. Indeed, marriage in Urhobo worldview is an enduring institution. It is sacred. It looms large enough to tie two independent families together forever.
Urhobo traditional marriage takes various forms. From time, there have been some distinct processes of marriage proposals or types of traditional marriages. Any of these marriage forms are recognised by our society, as they form key aspects of our customs and traditions.
"Esavwijotor:”
This occurs when parents propose marriage on behalf of their son or daughter at an early age. Pledges of this nature are also made and redeemed, as a result of observed exemplary character of a young girl or boy. It could be made as a reward for exceptional valour. The uses or instances of this concept are infinite. Normally, with this type of marriage, love develops between the couple only after marriage has been officially contracted .
The marriage ceremony follows the meeting of both families. Traditional both families would meet at the bride’s home. An advance notice is given to the bride`s family for this visit.
The groom’s family will arrive at the bride’s home. Firstly the bride’s family will welcome them with drinks, kolanuts supported with some money will be offered to the visiting family, as is customary in Urhobo tradition.
A spokesman for the bride’s family will make the presentation of the drinks and kolanuts with the money to the visiting family. The visitor’s spokesman will accept the presentation on behalf of the groom’s family. After this initial customary entertainment, the visitors are asked the purpose of their visit.
The visitors would inform the bride’s family that they have come to marry their daughter for their son, who may or may not be present at this protocol.
If the bride’s family accepts this explanation, they would go through a process of the identification of the bride they wish to marry. The visitors would be told that the family has many daughters; as such, its members do not know which of their daughters their son would like to marry. At this junction, the bride’s family would then bring out a girl who is not the bride, and parade this girl in front of the groom’s family. The groom would reject this girl saying that she was not the one he wants. This formality would be repeated about three times. Each time a girl is paraded and rejected, the groom’s family would be asked to pay the rejected girl some money.
Finally, the bride is presented to the groom to confirm the true identity of his chosen bride.
Once this process is concluded, the bride’s consent would then be obtained. She will be asked if she is willing to marry the groom. The family of the bride can only receive the dowry if she consents to marry the groom. This process is only a formality on the day because in most cases, the dowry amount and all arrangements would normally have been agreed prior. The groom or his family would pay a dowry to the bride’s family. The dowry is the price money paid to the bride’s family on account of the bride.
The Urhobo Traditional Wedding is very interesting and engrossing culture.
I just love the Traditional Wedding Attire!
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