Traditional marriage system of the Yoruba people

   The traditional marriage system of the Yoruba's can be described as lengthy,tedious and complicated to carry out.It is entirely different from the marriage that take place in the Western world.

In the traditional marriage system of the Yoruba people,a man's marriage to a woman is a gradual process in which a man systematically gets interested in a woman and works his way towards achieving his aim.However,marriage can be achieved in two ways.

Firstly,a woman can be bestowed to a man at a very young age mostly for alliance purposes.For a female to be bestowed upon a male,the male has to come from a good family without a trace of inherited diseases.

Secondly,a man who is old enough to act as a husband finds a woman he loves.He goes ahead to work the woman through an intermediary known as "alarinna" who serves as the go-between and informs the woman of the man's love for her.Usually at the first attempt,the woman turns down the proposal.Same goes for the second attempt.At the third attempt,she begins to show interest in the man's proposal and the intermediarystarts to pass messages from woman to man and vice versa.After some months of courtyard,the man information his family members particularly his parents and older ones of their courtship.That man's family then proceeds to make enquiries about the woman's family.

If the woman is considered fit for a relationship with their son,they would proceed to the woman's family to inform them that there is a beautiful flower,which,metaphorically speaking is the woman,in their compound which they have come to pluck.The woman's family gives a date in which the man's family should come back for their consent.Before this date,the woman's family also research about the man's family to know if they are worthy of an association such as marriage.

When the man's family come back,they bring along gifts like kolanut,palmwine and palm oil.After pleasantries have been exchanged and the woman's family accept the idea  of marriage,a date will be fixed for the traditional engagement ceremony where the nuptial knot will be tied.

The traditional engagement ceremony is the culmination process which begins either when the woman was bestowed on the man or when he sees the woman as a mature adult and goes through the intermediary.Whichever way,the traditional engagement ceremony is always colorful and interesting.Here,the man will have to pay the bride price known as"owo ori"along with other marriage gifts like tubers of yam,gin,palm wine,palm oil Abe variety of fruits.After this,they will be joined together as husband and wife.The new bride is escorted to her husband's house.At the entrance,her feet is washed and she has stopped breaking a cal bash by stepping on it.The number of broken pieces represents the number of children she will give birth to.This,the traditional engagement ceremony comes to an end.