Civilization (or rather western civilization) has done its bit in making Africans forget where they come from. It is common sight today to see people prefer sandwiches and omelets to our local dishes. You're called barbaric for dressing in a hunting regalia, armed with your bow and arrow, relegating the historical precedence and prestige that came with it. It's amazing that Africans are "Unafricanning" themselves and "Europeaning" themselves while the Europeans are "Africanning" and "Uneuropeaning" themselves. Africa is a land rich in culture and tradition. I'll list some here.
- Gerewol Festival
This is done by the Wodaabe tribe, a small subgroup of Fulani ethnic group found in parts of Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Central African Republic. This festival involves dancing at night. This isn't the main gist however. This night dancing allows a man to steal another woman regardless of her being married or not. The tribe recognizes this Union except the woman refuses..... Or the woman's husband catches him when he is doing the “stealing”. Talk about bursting your bubble! Now, this is one culture people will like to revisit.....or never mind!
- In faraway Ethiopia, a very funny but interesting culture of men belonging to the Suri and Surma tribe is common. This culture involves fighting for a woman. Now, fighting here doesn't mean trying to impress her. It means real fighting. Yeah, the blows, kicks, uppercuts and karate stuffs. They'll first of all do something called "Donga”, where a Suri man will cover his face and body with clay, walk around naked (ew!), carrying an 8 feet pole. After this, he engages other single men in fight while numerous single ladies stand behind to choose their partners from the winners. The women choose. Did you get that?
Meanwhile, in places like Rwanda, Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya, tribes who practice the weird practice of kidnapping the bride exist. In the tribe of Latuka, Sudan, when a man wants to marry a lady, he kidnaps her and later informs the parents. If both parties come to an agreement, the would-be groom is made to taste cane lashes before given the permission to marry her. If the parents don't agree, he may marry her by force! Call it a "commando-style" wedding and you won't be wrong!
- Now to the bizarre ones. The Bantu tribe in Malawi has a community, the Chewa community. Famous for its Nyau, a secretive society and their traditional mask wearing, they bury their dead in a very bizarre and amazing manner. During the burial ceremony of a tribal member whose body must be washed, this body is taken to a sacred place. Here,the body is prepared for washing by slitting the throat of the dead and pouring water through the inside of the dead. This is done continuously until the water comes out clean after which ,this same water is used in preparing a sumptuous meal for the consumption of all. FantabIzarrastIc
- Hamar in Ethiopia.
We've heard of numerous types of test people underwent in times past to prove their maturity. In Nigeria, we hear our parents telling us the "your-hand-must-pass-over-your-head-and-touch-your-ear" tales as prerequisite for being taken to primary schools. In Ethiopia, it is called Hamar, a kind of ritual that involves striping naked (as usual, lol), running, jumping and landing on an already waiting back of a bull. After this, the young man runs across the backs of bulls arranged in a straight line and pulled by their tails and horns by men who are older. Girl friends of the young man are made to cover their body with ochre and fat, dance and get thrashed by elders until they get sore, in loyalty to their friend. How loyal!
- Kenya seems to have a deep concentration of a mixture of bizarre and amazing cultures. From those who use a disc like thing to stretch their lips, the bigger the stretch, the finer the face, (Hi Wakanda!) to the other ones. Massai, a community in Kenya, has outlined rituals for men to do before they attain respect in the community. Part of this ritual is for a man to go into the jungle, hunt down a lion, alone. Scratch that. I said alone. Did you see that? And he is to go there without any "advanced" weaponry like gun or anything fancy. The only thing he can use is a spear! Spear! It’s okay! (But must I be a man?!).
- Have I mentioned lip plates and lip stretching before? Have we talked on the Suma people of Sudan? Yes we have! Here is another one. This people found in southern Sudan as well as southwestern Ethiopia have fascinating interest in physical features and attributes. Girls in their teens undergo a lip stretching procedure which entails removing the lower teeth to accommodate a lip plate. This lip plate, increased yearly, is more or less a pointer for beauty. Its increase gets to point of astonishment. The men also do this. They however do it to their ears, increasing the lip plate to the point where their appearance is a mixture of fright and confusion Warriors known as "stick fighters" are indoctrinated by making them go through the pains if having scars all over. They have this weird belief that the higher the amount of scars men have,the more attracted they'll be to women!. (Men been doing this for ages man....yeah,the "attracting" thing.)
- Now to Nigeria! The Fulani tribe of Nigeria, unknown to many people, are culturally divided into the Nomads and Settlers. The nomads are those that move about with their cattle, have little or no attachment to any religion, use mirrors, smoke amongst others. They're people who just in all honesty want to have fun herding their cattle. The settlers are those who settle in a place. The Fulanis have a deeply traditional and cultural system of wedding. It entails 2 or 3 segments depending on the discretion of the tribe. Sharo, flogging, payment of dowry called Kowgal and the Kabbal. None of either the bride or groom attends the Kabbal which is more or less an Islamic ceremony of marriage. Then the Sharo, this is when the man will be flogged by older men. If he passes, he earns both respect and the wife. It’s sad to note that men sometimes lose their lives to this.
Africa? We should be proud! We're very cultural people. Yeah, we might not be where we supposed to be or that some of our culture maybe barbaric, it's up to us to raise our voices and be heard. Our ancestors done did theirs. Now is ours. Our time is now!!
Signing out like the prince of Wakanda!
References
- Kokofeed.com
- Africa-facts.org
- Africanexponent.com
Authored by 