Differences and Similarities: African Traditional and White Wedding
Sibongire Nthara
A wedding is one of the events that excite many people in honor of a couple that is about to make a lifetime commitment. Different cultures around the world have a way of celebrating this day. Out of the many cultures, traditional African and white wedding tops up the list of how people celebrate. African traditional wedding is common in Africa, though other continents imitate it as well because of its sophistication and the fun that comes with it. On the other hand, white weddings embody a certain beauty because of their simplicity and classic setup during the event. Weather white or traditional African wedding, the purpose is to have the couple commit their vows into holy matrimony and share their lifetime together till death separate them.
I grew up in a society where weddings are highly celebrated, especially traditional weddings. The day is filled with many entertaining activities, outfits, and delicious food that families prepare for the guests. Traditional weddings can be done outside the bride or groom’s premises and have people in the area celebrate with them. A growing number of hotels around the world now provide cultural weddings and vow renewals, like a Hindu ceremony in India, a shaman-led Mayan celebration in Mexico or a traditional Maasai wedding in Tanzania (Vora Shivani, Para. 2). In recent years, some African traditional weddings have taken place in luxurious hotels especially those from rich families. Cultural weddings are likely to resonate with couples who don’t have a strong affinity to any religion, said Lauren Kay, the deputy editor of The Knot. “They’re a way for couples to create their own customs and not fit into a box,” she said (Vora Shivani.Para.9). My uncle, who never belonged to any religion at that time, had a traditional wedding celebration for two days, wearing the same outfits and same wedding location. If a religion was involved, they could have gone to a church but in this case only chiefs were involved. Wedding planners, too, say that more of their clients are requesting cultural wedding ceremonies. (Vora Shivani, Para. 12). Couples who are about to get married believe that traditional weddings are a way of honoring their family heritage and pay homage to their cultural heritage. On the day of the ceremony, a group of 20 Maasai dressed in traditional Shuka’s, or brightly colored wrapped cloths, and carrying fire-lit wooden sticks (Vora Shivani, Para.17). At the traditional African weddings, guests wear a specific outfit that is tailor made depending on which side of the family they belong to and choose a theme color for the fabric.
Then there is a white wedding which holds almost the same hype as a traditional wedding, originating from Great Britain. The term white came about because of the white dress worn by the bride on the day. A white wedding involves a ceremonial church service where the priest or clergy blesses the couple into holy matrimony. The couple vow their commitment of love and happiness to one another with vows that are given by the church. Americans learned that to achieve an ideal white wedding, the newly requisite style of postwar celebration, no detail could be spared. (Dunak, 2013, P.13) For Instance, from the late 1940s on, the white wedding would be the wedding style against which all others were measured. Father of the Bride predicted the growth of the white wedding’s popularity (Dunak, 2013, P. 44). During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Americans wed in a variety of celebration styles. Some men and women enjoyed the splendor of the white wedding, but for many Americans, the wedding day was just another day (Dunak, 2013, P.45). Unlike the traditional wedding where planning is done months prior to the actual wedding date for the newly wedded couple and families to enjoy the day fully, for a white wedding “It was rare for a ceremony to have been planned months in advance or that wedding planning would consume most of one’s time and focus in the months prior” (Dunak, 2013, P. 46). Also, white wedding planning and celebration while often publicized as a day of romantic fulfillment and familial bliss, the ceremony also served as a location where generations engaged in a tug of war over understandings of religion, sex, gender roles, family, and the nature of modern marriage (Dunak, 2013, P. 81).
It is amazing how both traditional and white weddings unite families, friends, and relations and that what is common in both celebrations is sharing food, gifts, dancing and doing fun activities together. During the second half of the twentieth century, many couples embraced the familiarity of the wedding celebration and then used the seemingly safe and staid location of a wedding to challenge expected cultural norms and behaviors. Many couples approached their weddings with thoughtfulness and care (Dunak, 2013, P. 26). The celebration has provided couples with the possibility of individual expression, personal authority, and cultural reinterpretation, all hallmarks of the cultural shift that occurred in the decades following World War II. (Dunak, 2013, P.36). The bride and groom including the invited guest look forward to a day filled with fun and joy. Deep and precious memories have been created out of weddings weather done on a small or huge budget. Whether it is a traditional or white wedding, “many couples opt for a destination wedding, but some are going a step further by having weddings with all the local customs and fanfare” (Vora Shivani, Para.1). Often times, providers give an overall depiction of weddings such as Jack Ezon, the founder of Embark, a New York travel company specializing in destination weddings, said he planned more than a dozen cultural ceremonies last year, including one for 200 people in Marrakesh, Morocco, where the bride gave a traditional Moroccan henna party before the wedding and all the women received elaborate henna patterns painted on their hands and feet. (Vora Shivani, Para. 6). Whilst the celebrations are related and they mostly last a day, the days following that are in the hands of the couple to make their marriage work. However, over the recent decades, many couples have divorced yet they had a lavish white wedding unlike with traditional weddings where such issues are not common.
A beautiful white and traditional African wedding celebration attracts the attention of many around the world. These weddings reflect different cultures around the world depending on what each continent regards to be the best way of celebrating this day. Couples save up money just to have a memorable day by having their event at a nice venue, good food, decoration, dressing and wonderful honeymoon experience. Some hold this day in honor and respect of their traditions and heritage. Whilst the wedding day can be very colorful, couples need to consider a lifetime that is coming ahead of them which will require their continuous commitment of their love and joy. They need to verify the partner they are marrying to and be sure before the day of the wedding.
References
Vora Shivani, (2019, April 11) New York Times (Online) New York Times Company.
Dunak, Karen M. (2013) As Long As We Both Shall Love: The White Wedding in Postwar America, New York University Press.