Nupe wedding culture
Majority of the Nupe peple dominates Niger state while it’s minority inhabits Kwara and Kogi state. They have a very rich culture and values, especially for marriage.
In the nupe setting ,marriage between a man and a woman is regarded as sacred. The couples are called ‘ebayawo and yawo’, meaning husband and wife. In the olden days, the young boys and girls do not get to choose who to marry by themselves, but this has changed significantly over time. In the olden days, the traditional Nupe wedding is said to last for 5-7 days,but nowadays, the ceremony lasts between 48 – 72 hours.
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After meeting her parents and they accepted to give her hand to you in marriage. On average the following steps comes before ceremony proper:
- Pronouncement of the offer-Big Kolanut on 3 mudus plus 20k they call it “kpemi Aya”.
- When the groom’s family relates with the bride’s family for the date and agreed upon a date….. Another 3 mudus plus 10000 thousand Naira.
- When the date is close by, 120 mudus of ofada rice plus 50 mudus of corn plus 70 thousand Naira is paid
- Filling of a set of the biggest size of ecollac bag with expensive clothing materials, the next to that is filled with less expensive materials, the next is Veil and hijabs, the next is foot ware, the next is underwear plus necklaces. Or this stage be replaced with certain amount of money to be given to the bride by the groom. Usually 150 to 300 thousand naira, this is because the groom might not know the traditional attires on the wedding day.
The money to be paid can be waved or reduce, also depends on the husband whether he’s financially bouyant or not.
The marriage ceremony (Nikkah)
The wedding fathia takes place where the couple are pronounced husband and wife , an Islamic preaching then follows or in the absence of that drum beating and singing of folk takes place all night.
Late in the evening of the fathia (wedding) the bride is then conveyed to her husband’s house , accompanied by her friends ,her husband’s friend and a few married woman, she is then handed over to someone who serves as an intermediary between the two families.After she has been received by the groom’s family, another round of celebration continues into the night. - The morning after the wedding,the bride will dress in a ceremonial attire and go back to her father’s house to prepare a meal she will take back to her ‘ebayawo’, husband’s house.
She will feed him in front of friends , the bride then goes back to her father’s house to make final preparation to leave her father’s house,the married women then help her in packing her loads,they sing merrily through out the exercise. One of the items that is said to be important and must not be forgotten is the mortar and pestle as it is said to have a big significance according to tradition.
