Wedding news
LawSupreme Court Justice Samuel Alito says marriage equality turned US "against religious liberty"DressMiss Manners: Modern weddings are less about tradition, more about celebrationMass weddingsLaoag City’s ‘Alisto I Do’ seals decade-long promise for 42 couplesIndustryIndia hotels see winter wedding boomLawPunjab Panel Approves Bill to Reform Christian Marriage LawMass weddingsNine officers tie the knot in mass ceremonyIndustryEvolved Catering Baltimore Enters Fall Wedding Season With New Five Star Reviews From CouplesMass weddingsHoms Hosts Mass Wedding for Over 100 Children of Martyrs - Syria FocusMass weddingsMore than 100 sons of martyrs join mass wedding in HomsCustomsYeongju's Museom Single-Log Bridge Festival wraps up with traditional wedding, funeral procession reenactmentsLawSupreme Court Justice Samuel Alito says marriage equality turned US "against religious liberty"DressMiss Manners: Modern weddings are less about tradition, more about celebrationMass weddingsLaoag City’s ‘Alisto I Do’ seals decade-long promise for 42 couplesIndustryIndia hotels see winter wedding boomLawPunjab Panel Approves Bill to Reform Christian Marriage LawMass weddingsNine officers tie the knot in mass ceremonyIndustryEvolved Catering Baltimore Enters Fall Wedding Season With New Five Star Reviews From CouplesMass weddingsHoms Hosts Mass Wedding for Over 100 Children of Martyrs - Syria FocusMass weddingsMore than 100 sons of martyrs join mass wedding in HomsCustomsYeongju's Museom Single-Log Bridge Festival wraps up with traditional wedding, funeral procession reenactments
EveryShaadi

Wedding traditions of Kampala

A hill city where the kwanjula, the introduction, and the gomesi dress make the Baganda wedding.

Uganda's Baganda hold a kwanjula, an introduction ceremony in which the groom's family is introduced to the bride's and presents gifts. The bride wears a gomesi or a busuuti, a colourful floor-length dress. The couple later has a white wedding.

Kampala: view from 7th floor on Crane Chambers at Kampala road
Photo: kousek_cz, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

A wedding here

The bride is presented from behind a screen, and her aunt, the senga, plays a major role. Gifts include cloth, drinks and a fee. The two sides exchange speeches in Luganda and share matoke, chicken and groundnut sauce.

Law and change

The minimum age is 18. Customary marriage is recognised and polygamy is allowed under certain forms of marriage. Same-sex acts are illegal.

Wedding customs of Kampala

Also part of it, and being written: Kwanjula (The introduction ceremony.), Baganda (The community.), Matoke (The staple.).

A wedding trail idea for Kampala

  1. Owino Market A market for clothing.
  2. Kasubi Tombs The royal tombs.
  3. Namirembe Cathedral An Anglican cathedral.
About this page

Written by the EveryShaadi desk with AI assistance. Opening hours, venues and wedding-season dates change; check locally before travelling. Customs differ from place to place and family to family. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.

Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

The weekly EveryShaadi

Every week: one wedding tradition from somewhere new, the wedding days coming up around the world, and one idea explained.