Ruracio in Kenyan Kikuyu culture simply refers to Negotiation and Payment of the Dowry or Bride price.
It is the last stage in the Kikuyu Traditional wedding ceremony.
Before this there would have been the “Kuhanda Ithigi or “Planting twigs”. This is the first stage where the groom gets to state his intention to ask for the lady’s hand in marriage. In West Africa it is known as “Knocking the door”.
After this stage is the “Kumenya Mucii” or “Knowing the home”. Here the parents of the bride to be and suitor get to meet each other.
This is similar to the “Introduction Ceremony” in West Africa, where both families of the lady and her groom to be are introduced to each other.
On the day of the Ruracio, which takes place in the bride’s family home, the groom and his family meet a “closed gate” on arrival. They must sing their way in.
The women on “both sides”, that is, both families start singing with each group trying to outdo the other. They eventually end up singing together with joy.
The guests are then welcomed in and served food to eat.
In a case where the Ruracio is a combined with the Kuhanda Ithigi, the groom’s family will then proceed to state their intentions.
He is then faced with the task of confirming that the woman he seeks is in that home.
This is the fun part, where the bride’s family veils different ladies with shukas or wrappers for him to identify.
He needs to identify his bride.
And hopefully he gets it right!
So we move to the business of the day.
The lady after being selected is then taken back into her room, before which she would have been invited to give her blessings for the negotiations and Dowry payments to begin in another room.
These negotiations go on inside while guests are entertained with music outside.
Successful completion of the negotiations are greeted with ululations and the celebrations continue.
I’ve never heard of an aborted Ruracio process.
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