Traditional Wedding Ceremony In Nigeria.

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How do you conduct a traditional wedding?
FOOD SERVED AT YORUBA TRADITIONAL WEDDING CEREMONY

Nigeria consists of three different tribes. Even though Nigeria has more than 300 ethnic tribes. These three tribes are Yoruba, Hausa, and Igbo. Igbo is pronounced as ee boo.

These tribes practice different culture but still, they have many things in common. This brings us to TRADITIONAL WEDDING among these tribes.

My first article on the Traditional Wedding Ceremony will be on Yoruba Traditional Wedding Ceremony. This is to show you the beauty in Nigerian Culture and Heritage.

It is the joy of every parent to witness their children’s wedding day. To the Yoruba’s, Traditional Marriage is very important, especially the mother of the bride.

Before Traditional marriage, a date is set for an INTRODUCTION between the two families. Also a date for the ENGAGEMENT CEREMONY after agreeing to the terms of the bride’s family.

As a Wedding Photographer and my experience so far, I know quite enough to tell you how beautiful our culture is. The wedding planning is not a day job, because it’s a big day for the husband and wife. The bride’s wedding dress needs to be styled.

A real wedding also needs a ring bearer and flower girl. In addition, a wedding cake is one of the most important preparations for the wedding party. The marrying couple needs to cut cake to celebrate their wedding union.

Alaga Ijoko: Representing the bride’s family at a traditional wedding.
Alaga Iduro: Representing the groom’s families at a traditional wedding.

How do you conduct a traditional wedding?

Table Of Contents[ Show ]

How do you conduct a traditional wedding?
FOOD SERVED AT YORUBA TRADITIONAL WEDDING CEREMONY

The program begins with the timely arrival of all the groom’s families. If the groom’s family arrives late, it is customary they pay a huge fine.

After the arrival of the bride’s family, singing, and dancing to their seat, the program starts in full. Alaga Iduro now leads the groom’s family inside.

All the family singing and dancing to her tunes. She leads them to where the bride’s family are sited. She then asks them to pay respect before heading back to their own seat.

The groom's family pays respect to the bride's family in a traditional wedding

Next, the groom and his friends dance in with full joy and excitement. They all proceed to pay respect to the bride’s family, it is customary they all prostrate at once and receive blessings from the bride’s family.

They all proceed to pay respect to the bride’s family, traditional wedding.

Furthermore, Alaga Ijoko will now ask the groom to prostrate alone to receive blessings from the bride’s family. It’s a must at a Yoruba traditional wedding.

The groom prostrate alone to receive blessings from the brides family at a traditional wedding

Furthermore, he is then instructed to sit in between the bride’s parents to take pictures. The same thing goes for his parent.

After taking pictures with both parents, now he can sit down on the bride and groom’s reserved seat. His friend takes one or two shots with him before going to sit.

The Groom & his friends takes picture at a traditional wedding

This is where it gets more interesting. A proposal letter is presented to the bride’s family. The youngest child of the family reads the letter, usually a girl. A letter of acceptance is given back to the groom’s family.

Now, the bride dances in with her friends, her face covered with a veil. Most guest and family members will join her to dance as she’s coming

She dances in with her friends.

Interesting right?. She proceeds to receive blessings from her parents, at this stage, most brides do cry, because this is a farewell prayer and blessings from her parents.

Finally, she proceeds to her new family’s seat (Grooms family). The groom’s family accepts her as their daughter, not their wife.

After receiving the groom’s parent blessings, she dances to her husband’s seat. Holding his cap in her hand, it’s customary she kneels down and wears the cap on his head.

she kneels down and wears the cap on his head.

She then stretches fort her hand to receive money from her husband to be. The husband will have to give the bride some reasonable amount of money into her purse. This is to show appreciation for her caring attitude.

From the screenshot above. We call this a test of morals, She has to pick one out of the bride price. A well-trained bride will choose the Quran or the Holy bible depending on her religion.

A ring is attached to the Bible or the Quran, which is a symbol of his wedding vows. The husband is asked to unwrap the ring attached to the Bible or the Quran.

Now, it is time to join them together, the husband insert ring into her bride’s hand. Kissing and hugging follow.