importance of bride wealth in traditional african communities

The Kikuyu of Kenya, for example, believed that when they died they would be rewarded in heaven with wealth in the form of cattle, sheep, goats and their wives. In order to understand the importance of ancestors one must realize that in the African view, death is not thought to end human relationships. 1971. In relegating these practices, the authority and power of elders in kingroups were also undermined. Marriage Laws Africa Arthur Phillips Henry F …. Spirits And Ancestors PREVIOUSLY << STATE THE RELEVANCE OF PROPHET JEREMIAH’S SUFFERING TO CHRISTIANS TODAY. So valued are children that amongst the Abaluyia of Kenya, if a woman with not more than two children dies, her body is returned back to her family and the marriage gift is given back to her husband 1. The list differs from tribe to tribe in Ghana. In South Africa, the law provides for respecting the marriage practices of traditional marriages, whereby a person might be married as young as 12 for females and 14 for males enhancing the practice (Nawal, 2006). It also served as a token of gratitude by the groom’s family as the care of the woman had be entrusted to them 1. Passover December 2020 Bride wealth has often been termed as purchase money. In such cultures, a marriage is not reckoned to have ended until the return of bridewealth has been acknowledged, signifying divorce. 2009 Ogbu J. African bridewealth and women’s status. April 2020 “The giving of the [marriage gift] is not regarded as an economic or at least not as a business transaction. 1997 The type and amount of wealth to be paid varies from one community to another. In traditional African societies, bride-wealth was related to goods and services that a bridegroom and his kinsmen transferred to the family of the bride (Kanogo,2005:105). Church Unity Mahapatra, Lisa, and Sophie Song. Bride price is defined as the price that is paid either in kind or cash by a man to the family of the woman he wants to marry. In spite of the introduction of Western medicine and health care systems in Africa, many African communities still rely on traditional health care (World Health Organisation [WHO] 2001). 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Amongst the Gusii in south-western Kenya, and this is also characterised by most African societies, it was a crime for a man and a woman to live together as a couple in cases where the bride wealth had not been paid 5. Goody J, Tambiah SJ. The bride price list is an integral part of the traditional marriage ceremony, commonly referred to as engagement ceremony in Ghana. October 2020 1978. Bride wealth initiates a long-lasting friendship between the two families. It is a practice which has long been accepted by clan heads, chiefs and traditional rulers alike. Dashboard 1992. “There are frequently…some in the [groom’s] direction” 6(p47) thus it is reciprocal although the gift from the bride’s family “may be materially smaller than those of the man” 1(p140). The monetisation of the economies of African societies disrupted many modes of exchange across the continent. EVIL 1969. This is a practise which stemmed from a relatively recent past. 1. Nunkunya G. Tradition and change in Ghana. July 2019 2001 “The giving of the [marriage gift] is not regarded as an economic or at least not as a business transaction. Jesus Death traditional communities. Marriage is defined by Maxwell Assimeng (1999) as “the coming together of a man and a woman from two different clans to establish a family such that offspring could ensue to replenish and perpetuate the [ethnic group]” (p.79). 2. The African Energy Chamber forecasts that 2021 generation is likely to range between 870-900 TWh if demand picks up aggressively throughout the year. The researcher wants to explore more about the practice of bridewealth. The amount usually paid differs from one country to the other and from one tribe to the other. It's also done in our churches where vowing is involved and also in the attorney general’s office where couples are too announced married by the law. The Akans say “Wɔnsei ammamerɛ” (Traditions must not be destroyed) and as a reflection of such thoughts, it has led to the fusion of the old and new; the traditional and the modern. Amongst certain societies like the patrilineal Ewes of Ghana and Togo for example, it is given to the family of the bride to ‘compensate’ for the disruption in the structure of their kinship lineage. “Normative”,’Recollected'and “Actual”Marriage Payments among the Lowiili of Northern Ghana, 1951–1966. Assimeng J. The marriage rites are followed strictly and are very traditional. Among various elements involved in the rite of marriage bridewealth plays an important role. The gift is thus “used to replace the daughter by obtaining a wife for some member of the family, usually a brother of the woman who has been lost” 6(p50). Loyalty To God: Elijah These two prestations are strikingly different yet similar in the sense that the former was given strictly to the family of the bride to symbolize the union whereas the latter was wealth acquired by the bride from her family to ensure the smooth running of her new home. The average Nigerian wedding today takes four phases basically, which obviously does not … Bride Wealth Closely related to the above is the aspect of bride wealth. 1969. St. Luke Gospel CRE PAPER 1 QUESTIONS To understand bride wealth, one must first understand marriage and its essence in African communities. Importance of Bride Price, Why People Should Pay It. 4. For Chigwedere (op.cit) these small charges are never looked upon as an important element of the marriage deal. PROPHET JEREMIAH In South African society, the custom of bridewealth [in Zulu: ilobolo] is widely upheld, although its current practice may constrain marriage in African society. Amongst the Nkundo of Belgian Congo, the collective gifts given to the bridegroom’s family by the bride is called nkomi and with the exception of the ikula, payed by the bridegroom’s family to the bride’s family to signify formal betrothal, all other prestations given to the bride’s family are reciprocated. Bridewealth and Dowry. They include “purchase money”, “brideprice”, “wife-purchase”, “bride wealth”, “lobola” and it is sometimes wrongly referred to as “dowry”. September 2020 Why Bride price is important in marriages. The continuation of the kinship system is essential to African societies and she or he “who does not participate in it is a curse to the community” (Mbiti, 1969: 133) as it may be regarded as a deliberate attempt to discontinue the lineage system upon which the names and memories of the ancestors depend. During the marriage process, many gifts are presented to the bride’s family. Children are cherished in many African societies as through them, the lineage is continued and the memories of those gone before into the hereafter are still held in this life. October 2019 1999 The payment of bride price is a very common thing in many places in Africa and certain parts of Asia. 2006 Christian Approaches To Law Marriage is so pivotal in African societies and the marriage gift lies at its core that essentially, it can be said that marriage in many African societies is the rendering of the marriage gift to the family of the bride and the rendering of the marriage gift is marriage. Below are 5 more Reasons Why Bride Price is an Important Part of African Marriages. Thus, it was regarded as a crime for a man to live with a woman in British Kenya, whose family had not received the marriage gift from him 5. CREATION Leone Ouedraogo, Burkina Faso: The bride price is commonly paid in Burkinabe culture and is largely a symbolic act. PARABLE OF GOOD SAMARITAN It is symbolic” 6(p48). March 2020 Being young, they had not acquired much to be offered in the exchange of a bride. 0. (iv) Payment of bride-wealth is a requirement in traditional African marriage while in Christian marriage dowry is not a requirement. 2003 11. 7. Mbiti J. African philosophy and religion. However, the monetisation of African economies has diminished its symbolic value reducing women to one of the materialistic objects money buys. In South Africa, as a result of the brutal and inhumane apartheid laws, husbands seeking greener pastures were separated from their wives for as long as a year getting a chance to meet for about only a week in that year. The marriage gift must however be differentiated from the dowry. Was of disadvantage to young men especially who had to marry but the traditional subsistence activities did fetch. 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