Marriage in Africa

In this article, we are going through marriage in Africa.

Marriage in Africa is a union between two or more individuals who have embarked on a journey to build a family and do life together. In this process, a man will pay dowery to the family of his soon wife and after the family of the girl is satisfied the two will be considered married. This union in Africa in all cases consists of one man who marries one or more wives and they are all recognized by the community and all the families involved.

In Southern Africa, marriage is an institution that serves quite several purposes. Looking at the set-up which was dominant back in the 70s, marriage was seen as an institution for childbearing to expand the family as much as the married couple could. Women were told when they were living in their homes that their core business in the family they are now joining was to bear as many children as possible. Also, marriage would bring a full workforce for the man when the children were born and were fully grown, they were the ones to work in the fields and produce food and wealth for the family. Men also in these setups were freely allowed to marry as many wives as they wished as long as they were capable of taking care of them and satisfying all of them which is referred to as polygamy.

Also, when it comes to the issue of whom to marry in Africa in some cultures the elders from both families, the man, and the girl are the ones to choose the perfect matches for their children. In this process, the elders put their heads together and arrange a match for their children when they see that they are now ripe for marriage. These people could be neighbors, close family friends, or even from extended families. Normally they know each other perfectly well and in doing this they believe they will be strengthening their bonds and relationships.

However, in other cultures within Africa, young adults are given a chance to explore and choose whom they want to do life with, to start a family with, and spend the rest of their lives with as husband and wife. In this type of marriage set up a woman chooses her life partner and introduces him to the elders of the family, starting with the aunties up until the introduction reaches the biological parents. In this type of marriage mostly the parents agree to the choice of their daughter and on the side of the man his parents also ought to respect his choice and decision, though there are a lot of misunderstandings surrounding this issue, it’s a story of another day’’. After the introduction, the man now comes to pay dowery which is in form of money, clothes, cows, and goats depending on the desire of his in-laws. Thereafter he is then given his wife and they go and start their own family separately. This type of marriage has become very popular among the young generation and they prefer it more since they are at liberty to choose their life partner

In conclusion, marriage is a perfect and sacred union which must be enjoyed and, in my view, young people should be given the liberty to choose their life partners with guidance from the elders also, for they know better due to their wisdom and experience