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EveryShaadi

Indigenous and traditional wedding traditions

Indigenous and traditional weddings belong to specific peoples and places, and no single description holds.

Indigenous and traditional weddings belong to specific peoples and places, and no single description holds. They often join two families and two lineages, involve the community, and may include gifts, song, dance and a blessing from elders or ancestors. Each page is specific to a people, and care is taken to write what that people has chosen to share.

Families and community

Among the Maasai, the Zulu, the Yoruba and the Igbo, the wedding is a negotiation and a celebration between two families, with gifts, songs and a long meal. The Zulu umembeso is a ceremony of gifts to the bride's family, and Igbo couples perform the wine-carrying, igba nkwu, in which the bride finds her husband in the crowd with a cup of palm wine. The Yoruba ceremony includes the introduction, the engagement and the traditional wedding, with matching aso ebi cloth.

Other continents

In many Native American nations, ceremonies may include a blanket, a pipe, a basket or a corn ceremony. Among the Navajo, a wedding basket of cornmeal mush is shared. In Aboriginal Australian communities, practices differ by nation. Among the Maori, the Pacific and the Sami, custom is shaped by whakapapa, kin and place, and the Sami may wear gákti and silver brooches. In Papua New Guinea, bride price in the form of pigs and shell is exchanged.

Respect and law

Some customary marriages are recognised in law, as in South Africa under the Recognition of Customary Marriages Act, and others are not. Many communities now hold both a customary and a civil wedding. Some practices, such as forced or child marriage, are illegal and are being challenged by the communities themselves.

About this page

Written by the EveryShaadi desk with AI assistance. Background on Indigenous and traditional (faith). Customs differ from place to place and family to family. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.

RegionSouth AsiaSoutheast AsiaEast AsiaCentral Asia and the CaucasusMiddle EastNorth AfricaSub-Saharan AfricaEuropeNorth AmericaLatin America and the CaribbeanOceania
KindRiteVowBetrothalGift customAttireAdornmentPerformanceFeast customBlessingPlayFamily roleSettingModern
StageFinding a matchEngagement and betrothalThe weeks beforeThe eveProcession and arrivalThe ceremonyThe wedding feastReception, dance and giftsAfter the wedding
🇿🇦 South AfricaUmemulo The Zulu coming of age ceremony that marks a woman as ready for marriageRite · The weeks before 🇲🇲 MyanmarMarriage in Myanmar A blend of Buddhist rites, astrological timing, and family negotiations that defines union across Myanmar's diverse ethnRite · Finding a match 🇲🇦 Imilchil, MoroccoImilchil Marriage FestivalAgdoud N'Oulmghenni A Berber marriage festival in Morocco where tribes gather to arrange unions and celebrate with music and dance.Betrothal · Finding a match 🇪🇬 Egypt and 4 moreWaist beads Strands of glass or seed worn around the hips to mark womanhood and track body changes in West and North Africa.Adornment · Engagement and betrothal 🇮🇪 Ireland and 1 moreHandfastingceangal na lámh (Irish); pòsadh-bliadhna (Scottish Gaelic) A pledge ceremony where a couple joins hands to make a binding marriage contract or engagement.Rite · Engagement and betrothal 🇮🇳 IndiaChaklong wedding The traditional Ahom marriage system involving rice powder mandalas and ancestral rituals.Rite · Finding a match 🇸🇿 EswatiniUmtsimbauntsimba A multi-day Swazi wedding procession where the bride joins her husband's family through ritualised stages.Rite · Finding a match 🇮🇳 IndiaMeitei weddingLuhongba (ꯂꯨꯍꯣꯡꯕ) The traditional union of the Meitei people, marked by clan exogamy and specific courtship rituals.Rite · Finding a match 🇬🇭 GhanaPolygamy in Ghana A practice where a man has multiple wives, recognized under customary law but illegal under civil statutes.Family role · Engagement and betrothal 🇫🇷 France and 4 moreMore danicodansk skik A Medieval Scandinavian marriage custom allowing polygyny and secular unions outside church control.Betrothal · Engagement and betrothal

Photo credits on this page

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

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