Questions and Answers about Culture & Lifestyle
A Kikoi or Kikoy is a rectangular woven cloth, popular in East Africa, especially in Kenya and Tanzania, used as a sarong (wrapper) or shawl. The word Kikoi in Kiswahili simply means ” something to wrap around you”. This 100% cotton cloth which was introduced by the Arabian businessmen who came to East Africa, has…
Fugu means cloth in Moshie language in Ghana. The Moshies who migrated from Burkina Faso to settle in Northern Ghana, were the ones who brought in this fabric. It is also known as Bingba or Batakari in other parts of Ghana. The fugu fabric is made from cotton threads woven on simple hand looms into…
Ghana Traditional Wedding List 1. Bride price The bride price may be in form of an undisclosed amount of money or property. It is given to the wife’s family as a form of compensation for “taking their daughter”. Originally, this bride price or dowry used to be given to the bride to…
Ruracio is the process of negotiating and paying the bride price while Uthoni is like a house party where both the bride and groom’s families get to know each other.
The first stage in the ruracio process is “Kumenya mucii” where the groom and his family get to know the bride’s home. The next step is the ” Kuthanda ithigi” which means “planting a branch of a tree”. This is symbolic of the bride being ” booked “. Then the actual dowry payment…
Ruracio simply means “dowry negotiations” or “dowry payment”. Theses days the ruracio ceremony precedes the wedding in Kikuyu. The bride price or dowry is now is determined by factors such as how educated the bride is, her career, her social class, e.t.c. The bride price usually includes: Items for the men in the family A…
Returning lobola is rare, even though it can be claimed according to tradition. If the man is responsible for the breakup of the marriage, he will he has no claims to the lobola. However, if the woman is responsible for the break up of the marriage, part of the lobola is returned and part is…
Originally, the Zulu traditional wedding is in four stages: 1. Lobola: negotiation and payment of bride price (dowry). 2. Umembeso: Groom’s family bring gifts to bride’s family, based on the list they (bride’s family) gave him. 3. Umbondo: Maidens accompany the bride to take food to the groom’s family home. 4. Umabo: New wife takes…
