Sierra Leone Weddings
Khadija Kuyateh
Look at a world map. Now look for Africa. Looking at the west side of Africa, there is a small country called Sierra Leone. Sierra Leone is next to some well-known countries that kind of “hide” it like Ghana and Nigeria. It is also a very poor country. Despite all of this, they have their own cultures and traditions. One of which is their weddings. There are many different kinds of weddings in Sierra Leone. The type of wedding depends on religion. There are Christian, Muslim and Traditional weddings in Sierra Leone.
A Christian wedding happens when the bride and the groom are Christians or the wife has already accepted the man’s religion. According to custom, the wife takes the husband’s religion. First, there is an engagement that can be long term (6 months to 1 year) or short term (a few weeks or days before the wedding ceremony). It is worth to note that for every Christian wedding there must be an engagement ceremony. After the engagement, on the eve of the wedding there’s a bachelor’s eve party, similar to a bachelorette party in the United States. The groom does not have a party or do anything on the eve of the wedding. What the men do is not as significant as what the bride does because in Sierra Leone a wedding is for the woman. This takes place at the house of the bride. What is so special about the bachelor’s eve is that we have a grope of traditional singers that play a kind of music called Gumbe music. This can go on all night. At this event neighbors, friends, family come to the house wearing their ashobi (a cultural attire of the same pattern).
The next day it’s the wedding. Just like every other wedding in the United States they go to church, after the church service they have a reception or a receptional party depending on their choice. After the church ceremony, the new bride and groom will go to each of their parents’ house to do what is normally called drink wata, where the mother or father who will have a glass of water at the doorway of their home and will bless the couple and pray on the cup of water and then give the new newlyweds to drink. This is considered as blessings from the parents. This is a tradition that has been handed down from generation to generation of newlyweds. By that time the new wife’s belongings would be at her new home. After the reception she would go to her new husband’s home.
The Muslim wedding is where the bride and the groom are both Muslim or the wife is a Muslim and the husband is Christian. This means the wife has not accepted the husband’s religion before marriage. The Muslim engagement is not as long as the Christians. The Muslim engagement is usually a few days before the wedding or in most cases when the wedding is at home. The engagement and wedding go together. They call their own eve before the wedding ashobi night. The Muslim wedding ceremony starts very much like the Christian wedding with a party on the eve called ashobi night. The significance is the same as for Christians. The wedding is for the woman. Their Gumbe singers, family, friends, and neighbors will be in their ashobi. The rest of the wedding is the same as the Christians. The only difference is that the Muslims go to the mosque or the wedding can take place at the home of the bride’s parents or head of family.
A traditional wedding is where one of the couple is a Christian and the other person is a Muslim or do not have funds for a big wedding. This usually does not have an ashobi night. The Gumbe singers start doing their work on the morning of the wedding day itself. Their songs are mostly filled with praises for the bride. This ceremony starts around mid-afternoon with an engagement ceremony and there will be a combination of a Christian and Muslim representing from the church and mosque respectively. The two heads of the Christian and Muslim religion is the pastor and the imam. Immediately after the wedding ceremony follows (the engagement and wedding are done on the same day).
The traditional wedding ceremony itself can be very interesting. The husband-to-be’s family comes to marry the bride with a big delegation of family members and friends. This delegation includes a little girl of about 10 years of age who will be carrying a bottle gourd known as a calabash tied with a white cloth on her head. The little girl signifies purity in the marriage. This calabash will contain the bride price, needle and thread, kolo nuts, a bible and Quran and different envelopes filled with money addressed to different family members. Each item has its significance. The bride price is the money the groom has paid to the bride’s family for her hand in marriage (“Wedding Traditions in Sierra Leone”). This is considered a show of respect to the bride’s family. The needle and thread signifies that in times of difficulty the husband and wife will catch up their differences and work together. When you start to chew the kolo nuts, it is very bitter in your mouth but once all that bitterness has gone away, it leaves a sweet taste in your mouth. There will be bitterness in your marriage sometimes, but in the end, sweetness (love) prevails. The bible and Quran is to allow God into your home. The different envelopes filled with money addressed to different family members signify oneness in both families. Each envelope will contain money for sisters, brothers, friends, neighbors, aunts and uncles who helped in bringing up the bride. Since it is two religions that have come together, the imam will do his part according to the Muslim religion and the pastor will do the same according to the Christian religion.
A Christian, Muslim and Traditional wedding are very different and not quite similar. They each have their own way of doing rituals and celebrations. They each have different ways of starting the wedding. It all depends on religions. There are a few similarities. They all have some kind of religious ritual in the wedding. Could you picture a wedding like these?
Look at a world map. Now look for Africa. Looking at the west side of Africa, there is a small country called Sierra Leone. Sierra Leone is next to some well-known countries that kind of “hide” it like Ghana and Nigeria. It is also a very poor country. Despite all of this, they have their own cultures and traditions. One of which is their weddings. There are many different kinds of weddings in Sierra Leone. The type of wedding depends on religion. There are Christian, Muslim and Traditional weddings in Sierra Leone.
A Christian wedding happens when the bride and the groom are Christians or the wife has already accepted the man’s religion. According to custom, the wife takes the husband’s religion. First, there is an engagement that can be long term (6 months to 1 year) or short term (a few weeks or days before the wedding ceremony). It is worth to note that for every Christian wedding there must be an engagement ceremony. After the engagement, on the eve of the wedding there’s a bachelor’s eve party, similar to a bachelorette party in the United States. The groom does not have a party or do anything on the eve of the wedding. What the men do is not as significant as what the bride does because in Sierra Leone a wedding is for the woman. This takes place at the house of the bride. What is so special about the bachelor’s eve is that we have a grope of traditional singers that play a kind of music called Gumbe music. This can go on all night. At this event neighbors, friends, family come to the house wearing their ashobi (a cultural attire of the same pattern).
The next day it’s the wedding. Just like every other wedding in the United States they go to church, after the church service they have a reception or a receptional party depending on their choice. After the church ceremony, the new bride and groom will go to each of their parents’ house to do what is normally called drink wata, where the mother or father who will have a glass of water at the doorway of their home and will bless the couple and pray on the cup of water and then give the new newlyweds to drink. This is considered as blessings from the parents. This is a tradition that has been handed down from generation to generation of newlyweds. By that time the new wife’s belongings would be at her new home. After the reception she would go to her new husband’s home.
The Muslim wedding is where the bride and the groom are both Muslim or the wife is a Muslim and the husband is Christian. This means the wife has not accepted the husband’s religion before marriage. The Muslim engagement is not as long as the Christians. The Muslim engagement is usually a few days before the wedding or in most cases when the wedding is at home. The engagement and wedding go together. They call their own eve before the wedding ashobi night. The Muslim wedding ceremony starts very much like the Christian wedding with a party on the eve called ashobi night. The significance is the same as for Christians. The wedding is for the woman. Their Gumbe singers, family, friends, and neighbors will be in their ashobi. The rest of the wedding is the same as the Christians. The only difference is that the Muslims go to the mosque or the wedding can take place at the home of the bride’s parents or head of family.
A traditional wedding is where one of the couple is a Christian and the other person is a Muslim or do not have funds for a big wedding. This usually does not have an ashobi night. The Gumbe singers start doing their work on the morning of the wedding day itself. Their songs are mostly filled with praises for the bride. This ceremony starts around mid-afternoon with an engagement ceremony and there will be a combination of a Christian and Muslim representing from the church and mosque respectively. The two heads of the Christian and Muslim religion is the pastor and the imam. Immediately after the wedding ceremony follows (the engagement and wedding are done on the same day).
The traditional wedding ceremony itself can be very interesting. The husband-to-be’s family comes to marry the bride with a big delegation of family members and friends. This delegation includes a little girl of about 10 years of age who will be carrying a bottle gourd known as a calabash tied with a white cloth on her head. The little girl signifies purity in the marriage. This calabash will contain the bride price, needle and thread, kolo nuts, a bible and Quran and different envelopes filled with money addressed to different family members. Each item has its significance. The bride price is the money the groom has paid to the bride’s family for her hand in marriage (“Wedding Traditions in Sierra Leone”). This is considered a show of respect to the bride’s family. The needle and thread signifies that in times of difficulty the husband and wife will catch up their differences and work together. When you start to chew the kolo nuts, it is very bitter in your mouth but once all that bitterness has gone away, it leaves a sweet taste in your mouth. There will be bitterness in your marriage sometimes, but in the end, sweetness (love) prevails. The bible and Quran is to allow God into your home. The different envelopes filled with money addressed to different family members signify oneness in both families. Each envelope will contain money for sisters, brothers, friends, neighbors, aunts and uncles who helped in bringing up the bride. Since it is two religions that have come together, the imam will do his part according to the Muslim religion and the pastor will do the same according to the Christian religion.
A Christian, Muslim and Traditional wedding are very different and not quite similar. They each have their own way of doing rituals and celebrations. They each have different ways of starting the wedding. It all depends on religions. There are a few similarities. They all have some kind of religious ritual in the wedding. Could you picture a wedding like these?