African Wedding By: Mubanga Nsofu

African Marriage From my country Zambia, a young man is allowed to find a girl.

He proposes and gives her an engagement token called Insalamu. This is either beads or money to show his commitment. It also shows that the girl has agreed to be married. His parents then approve or disapprove his choice. Should they reject his choice, he starts to look again. If they agree, then the marriage procedure begins.

In my tribe the Bemba men began their marriages by first engaging young girls below the age of puberty. The young girl is not consulted with at all. The girl would go to her future husband's house, sometimes alone, most often with friends after the marriage price was negotiated. On her first trip to his house she did not talk to him or enter his house without small presents being given to him. She would then speak to him and do a lot of housework for him. She would do what she thought was good for her future husband. This period of courtship was known as ukwisha. During this period, she was responsible for the man's daily food. The groom had to build his own house in the village where he was living, or in the village of his parents-in-law.

A Bemba marriage Tradition After the Bemba girl reaches

of age the pre marriage preparations begin, which are called the Amatebeto. mutoweto involves the preparation of numerous different culinary dishes as a show to the future groom of what he can expect his wife to cook for him. These dishes are prepared by the female members of the bride's family, inspected by the father of the bride, and then brought over to the groom's family.

First the bride is paraded out covered from view by a titenge (African traditional cloth) amid plenty of dancing and singing; money is thrown in front of the procession for as a sign of respect and good tiding (this occurred fairly often throughout the ceremony especially at the house the groom's family where it took on an appreciatory aspect as well). The bride is then unveiled and all the relatives gathered round, take turns helping her to stir the pot until the nshima

Once the Bribe and her family finish cooking, her father and all the men in her family inspect the food. Just about everyone then gathered into the living room as the inshindishi women began singing to the drum beats explaining the different dishes and showing them to the senior males of the family. Then all the food was taken and loaded into the back of a truck to be taken to the groom's house

Upon arriving, the female members of the groom's family came out to meet the procession. It is customary for his family to offer money to the approaching procession as a gift before entering onto their property. If the amount isn't satisfactory, the processions remains outside until more is offered. In this case there were no problems and the food was brought into the house amid much singing and jubilation and placed in front of the groom, his father, mother and one senior uncle

Once inside Each dish is then shown to the groom, his parents and uncle before being passed down the line of younger relatives and brought, into the kitchen. Following the show of food, the beverages ware shown to the family; such things as Coke and Fanta along with a southern African beer and finally the local brew made of millet called katata With everything now presented, the inshindishi prepared to wash the groom's hands, a very important part of the ceremony that is only explained to the groom following the departure of the bride's relatives.

When this part of the ceremony concludes everything, they is more dancing among the people, and the bribes family all pack up and head back home. Once getting home they update the bribes parents about the presentation of food, and then more dancing occurs among the people.

And then comes…..After the

traditional ceremonies are over, a few weeks later the formal wedding will take place.

Wedding DayLike any western

influenced wedding the bride and groom in Zambia also officially get married in a church most likely a catholic church, and they vow before God to stay together until death does them apart.

The endAfter a VERY long process the

wedding has finally come to a conclusion in the church, just like the western cultures we also have a reception where all families get together dance and have fun. Statistics show African marriages have the lowest divorce rate, I personally believe it is because of this process it builds togetherness.