African Married Women

The culture and tradition in Africa on marriage is a complex affair in the traditional society. It is believe that the point where all the members of a given community met the departed, the living and those yet to be born. Therefore, without procreation, marriage was considered incomplete. Therefore, the need to get married and bear children was the greatest hope and expectation of an individual and of the community for the individual.

Marriage for a girl is a long process. It is often marked with ritual and in choosing a marriage partner different customs will be observed. A common practice use is the parents and relatives of the young man approaches the parent of a particular girl and negotiates marriage. Others are still free to make their own choice on the partner they wish to marry. In the traditional societies, marriage was not allowed between close relatives. Where marriage was allowed within the same clan, carefully scrutiny followed to make sure that the couple was not close relatives.

The actual African wedding ceremony usually last for several days and it is full of rituals. They have to go through lots of cultural procedures which have lots of meanings before they become husband and wife.

When the ritual are over, newly wed couple will stay at their special house and consummated their marriage. Virginity plays a very large role in African communities. Virginity symbolizes that life have been preserved and that the spring of life had not been flowing wastefully. It also represent that both the girl and her relatives had preserved the sanctity of human reproduction. A virgin bride is the greatest glory and crown to her parent, husband, and relatives.