ORDER OF EVENTS FOR IGBO TRADITIONAL WEDDING; THE D-DAY (IGBANKWU)
ORDER OF EVENTS FOR IGBO TRADITIONAL WEDDING; THE D-DAY (IGBANKWU)
This is a breakdown of the order of events for the Igbo groom and bride, it will be most helpful when printing the programme of events. The M.C needs this to carry along the guests and all present at the occasion.
THE IGBO TRADITIONAL WEDDING DAY IS DIVIDED INTO TWO PARTS
1. Payment of bride price which is done first in the morning with a gathering of the umunna and the elders of the family and community as a whole, at this gathering a pre determined bride price will be paid here, also items brought by the groom and his family will be checked to make sure everything is in order and also distributed and shared to relevant parties like the obi, the elders, umunna, umuada, ikorobia,the bride’s family and the others.
Once the meeting is in progress, the bride will be summoned and she will be asked if she knows the groom and if the items for payment of bride price should be accepted (this is just a formality as a former and proper introduction would have been done prior to this time) and to this she will give a good response already known to her or in my case told me by my dad, which got all present at the meeting roaring with laughter and nodding their heads in approval. (My dad is a veteran marriage rite negotiator in my village, haha) . After this is done, the elders will go ahead and advice the young couple and also pray for them . from hence they all proceed to the venue for the party as the most important part which is the payment of bride price has been concluded.
As at the time of writing this article, the bride price in umunede in the Ika North East of Delta state is N10,550, though dependent on negotiations with the family of the bride with other items as listed in the list given to the grooms family. This bride price will be shared and a part will also be given to the bride (if i remember correctly, I was given 1500naira or so then as my share, smiles)
N.B: the bride needs to have started her makeup and preparations early so that when she is summoned, she will be prepared and after this she can now go and change into her second attire for the day and move to venue for the party and enjoyment to start. Venue is usually within the same compound.
2. THE WEDDING PARTY PROPER; PROGRAMME OF EVENT:
1 Opening prayer
2 Introduction and special recognition of guests to high table and seats
3 M.C cracks jokes and can invite traditional dancers to perform(if any. This is not compulsory)
4 Bridal entrance with the aso ebi ladies and friends.
5 Bride’s task to find the groom: the bride goes to where her parents are seated and kneels before them, the father the pours out a glass of wine of palmwine and gives to her. The bride stands up and goes into the crowd with her ladies beside her, looking for her groom with many trying to distract or detract her, this is usually the high light of the event . when she locates the groom, she kneels before him and gives him the glass of wine to drink from. They both drink from this glass and proceed back to the brides parents, who prays for them, then the couple can now proceed to their bridal canopy/gazebo or couples tent to take their seat.
6 Item seven is served, this is the main meal, as other traditional appetisers would have been served already e.,g garden eggs and sauce, groundnuts, chin chin and sweets and small chops. You do not necessarily have to serve all these choose the one most suitable and convenient especially if cooking is to be done by family and not professional caterers.
7 Couples first dance
8 Cutting of the cake
9 Couples first feeding: after the cutting of the cake, the bride places a piece on the plate and proceeds gracefully to feed her husband the cake, she can do this while kneeling down respectfully or she can do the mouth to mouth feeding. Both methods must end with a deep kiss shared between them. Awww, this is so romantic.
10 Presentation of gifts and sharing of souvenirs to guests
11 Vote of thanks and special appreciation
12 Closing prayer
This is a breakdown of the order of events for the Igbo groom and bride, it will be most helpful when printing the programme of events. The M.C needs this to carry along the guests and all present at the occasion.
THE IGBO TRADITIONAL WEDDING DAY IS DIVIDED INTO TWO PARTS
1. Payment of bride price which is done first in the morning with a gathering of the umunna and the elders of the family and community as a whole, at this gathering a pre determined bride price will be paid here, also items brought by the groom and his family will be checked to make sure everything is in order and also distributed and shared to relevant parties like the obi, the elders, umunna, umuada, ikorobia,the bride’s family and the others.
Once the meeting is in progress, the bride will be summoned and she will be asked if she knows the groom and if the items for payment of bride price should be accepted (this is just a formality as a former and proper introduction would have been done prior to this time) and to this she will give a good response already known to her or in my case told me by my dad, which got all present at the meeting roaring with laughter and nodding their heads in approval. (My dad is a veteran marriage rite negotiator in my village, haha) . After this is done, the elders will go ahead and advice the young couple and also pray for them . from hence they all proceed to the venue for the party as the most important part which is the payment of bride price has been concluded.
As at the time of writing this article, the bride price in umunede in the Ika North East of Delta state is N10,550, though dependent on negotiations with the family of the bride with other items as listed in the list given to the grooms family. This bride price will be shared and a part will also be given to the bride (if i remember correctly, I was given 1500naira or so then as my share, smiles)
N.B: the bride needs to have started her makeup and preparations early so that when she is summoned, she will be prepared and after this she can now go and change into her second attire for the day and move to venue for the party and enjoyment to start. Venue is usually within the same compound.
2. THE WEDDING PARTY PROPER; PROGRAMME OF EVENT:
1 Opening prayer
2 Introduction and special recognition of guests to high table and seats
3 M.C cracks jokes and can invite traditional dancers to perform(if any. This is not compulsory)
4 Bridal entrance with the aso ebi ladies and friends.
5 Bride’s task to find the groom: the bride goes to where her parents are seated and kneels before them, the father the pours out a glass of wine of palmwine and gives to her. The bride stands up and goes into the crowd with her ladies beside her, looking for her groom with many trying to distract or detract her, this is usually the high light of the event . when she locates the groom, she kneels before him and gives him the glass of wine to drink from. They both drink from this glass and proceed back to the brides parents, who prays for them, then the couple can now proceed to their bridal canopy/gazebo or couples tent to take their seat.
6 Item seven is served, this is the main meal, as other traditional appetisers would have been served already e.,g garden eggs and sauce, groundnuts, chin chin and sweets and small chops. You do not necessarily have to serve all these choose the one most suitable and convenient especially if cooking is to be done by family and not professional caterers.
7 Couples first dance
8 Cutting of the cake
9 Couples first feeding: after the cutting of the cake, the bride places a piece on the plate and proceeds gracefully to feed her husband the cake, she can do this while kneeling down respectfully or she can do the mouth to mouth feeding. Both methods must end with a deep kiss shared between them. Awww, this is so romantic.
10 Presentation of gifts and sharing of souvenirs to guests
11 Vote of thanks and special appreciation
12 Closing prayer
In a situation were the groom is not close by; that is he doesnt reside in the country and the traditional wedding was agreed by both parents to go on with the intending couple's consent how can this be done?
ReplyDeleteIs it possible for a traditional wedding to be done without the presence of either parties(bride or groom)?
Thank you.
yes it is.
DeleteThe tradition is very nice and the blog is very interesting to read. Keep posting more in the future blog. Wedding Decorators in Pondicherry Candid Photography Pondicherry
ReplyDeleteYou didn't say anything about the toast
ReplyDeletethe toast is most times reserved for white weddings.
DeletePlease in cases whereby there would be no white wedding, how would the toast look like
DeleteIs this the same process if the brides parents cannot make due to ill health with travel but the brides parents have already agreed on the wedding going ahead that we will have our traditional wedding in nigeira with the grooms family then come back to uk for tje English wedding with my family as me and my finance want to get it right and respect our parents traditions as my future mum in law is also unsure on how this works as i know my mummy and daddy in Nigeria would like all of this done correctly and me and my partner want everyone of our elders and families traditions also our religion as our relationship with god is very important so me and my partner wish to respect both our traditions with no probelms so all our tradtions are granted and that we get it right when we are in Nigeria but due to ill health my parents are unable to fly and both families are respecting our wishes as we have always planned to do our wedding back home in nigeria before the ceremony in the United Kingdom too and our wedding day we have picked is. Valentines day but we want to get it right so would it be the same process or something different as where im not ibgo or nigeiran but he mum has said it should be the same for me but my partner and he father is not certain on this and also how do he parents go about the fact my parents are to ill to travel due to heart disease they cannot fly and my father he has other illness that prevent him from flying but all our parents are happy for us to marry but me and my future husband also want our families to be happy that we got it perfect for both our tradtions, i really hope and pray you can advise us on this and help us with any further information you can to help us get everything right for our special day thank you xx
ReplyDeletehello victoryandcatrina4eva apologies for the late reply as i lost access to my blog and just reconnected to it. how are you and I'm hoping the wedding has been done already? anyways in the instance where your parents cannot be present at your wedding due to ill health, the parents usually delegate someone from your family like your uncle and his wife (your aunt) or an elderly family friend to represent them. i do hope this answers your question. so sorry its rather late. God bless. xx
Deletethank you
ReplyDeleteReally appreciate the content Creator..... You're doing well
ReplyDeleteYour post really helped me plan for my sisters traditional wedding in Jos. Thanks big time. All went well.
ReplyDelete07063518616
ReplyDeleteI really love this 🥰 pls share more
ReplyDeletePls, is it same program with cross river state
ReplyDeleteThumbs up
ReplyDeleteLovely Traditional Wedding.
ReplyDeleteHow do I combine traditional and White wedding same day?
ReplyDeleteWhat's the order of service gonna look like?
Thank you for sharing this wonderful information it was very helpful
ReplyDeleteMy friend insisted that I will be the mc during his traditional marriage which I have not done before though I have done some other mc like birthday but not traditional marriage pls how do I go about
ReplyDeleteIn this case you need to study the guide posted attentively , you get it right it
DeleteThank you, I really appreciate this post as I just made my program for wedding that I’ll be anchoring today!
ReplyDeleteI know this blog hasn’t seen any recent activities but can you please share what your response to your dad’s question that garnered all the laughs and jokes
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