Igbo land is located in Eastern Nigeria in West Africa,
Igbo people are well known for their very festive and colourful traditional marriage rites,
In Igbo land, parents of the couple, their extended families, villagers and towns people play active roles in traditional wedding ceremony.
Igbo traditional marriage process involves multiple different stages,
First stage
Love sight
The future groom finds the lady he wants to marry and tells his parents,
He is then accompanied by his parents, siblings and close family members, and contacts the family of the bride-to-be,
A date is then set for both families to meet,
During the meeting, the groom-to-be's father will state their intention.
Second stage
Mutual investigation
The father of the groom and his relatives normally will not expect the family of the bride to give them positive or negative answer right away,
They then will schedule another date to meet.
Before the next meeting, both families normally carry out investigation on each other to see if the families are of good character and morale standing in the society.
Third stage
The return visit
On their return visit to the bride-to-be's home, the groom's parents will reiterate their intention that their son wants to marry the girl in question. At this stage, it is expected that the bride-to-be's family must have concluded their investigation and consultation with their daughter and should be ready to give the groom either positive or negative answer.
Some of the items presented to the bride's family by the family of groom during the return visit are; kolanuts, palm wine (local brew), dry gin and soft drinks.
Both families will share the food and drinks.
The bride the Bride will be summoned before both families on the return visit and asked if she is interested in her future husband, If she agrees to marry her future husband, they will set another date for the actual marriage ceremony called "Igba Nkwu"
The family of the bride compiles a list of items that the groom's family will bring to the wedding ceremony as demanded by their customs and traditions. Typically, the list includes the following: Gallons of palmwine, Kola nut, One goat, Bags of rice, Tubers of yams, Crates of soft drinks, Stock fish, clothes and jewelries.
Fourth stage
Igba nkwu
The groom will go to the house of the bride-to-be with his immediate and extended family, villagers and towns people with the above items.
Host families will prepare different kinds of indigenous dishes to entertain their guests. Both families and their extended families including members of their communities will eat, dance and drink together.
During the ceremony, the Bride will move around with a cup of palm wine searching through the crowd for her husband, when she finds him, she'll kneel down, take a sip of the Palm wine then give the rest to her husband,
The parents and elders in the family of both the bride and groom will pray for the newlyweds and the for success of their marriage.
Afterwards, the bride and groom will dance along with their family members.
Final stage 5
Idu uno (home taking)
Idu uno or home taking is when the bride's family officially goes with the Bride to the home of the groom,
The bride's family along with their extended families sets a date to visit the couple with all the goods they bought.
On "Idu Uno day", the wife's family will give the newly married couple all the things they bought for them which always includes cooking utensils, baby materials, bed-sheets, boxes, sewing machine, bed, pillow cases, plates, clothes television, home appliances and other things newly married couples need to start a life and family.
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