Wedding traditions of Sub-Saharan Africa
Lobola and the knocking on the door, kente and the wedding cloth, Gerewol and the Ethiopian zemed. 68 traditions on EveryShaadi so far.
Countries
🇦🇴 Angola 1🇧🇯 Benin 5🇧🇼 Botswana 0🇧🇫 Burkina Faso 1🇧🇮 Burundi 2🇨🇲 Cameroon 3🇨🇻 Cape Verde 0🇨🇫 Central African Republic 1🇹🇩 Chad 1🇰🇲 Comoros 0🇨🇩 Democratic Republic of the Congo 1🇩🇯 Djibouti 0🇬🇶 Equatorial Guinea 0🇪🇷 Eritrea 2🇸🇿 Eswatini 2🇪🇹 Ethiopia 10🇬🇦 Gabon 0🇬🇲 Gambia 4🇬🇭 Ghana 8🇬🇳 Guinea 1🇬🇼 Guinea-Bissau 0🇨🇮 Ivory Coast 0🇰🇪 Kenya 8🇱🇸 Lesotho 1🇱🇷 Liberia 1🇲🇬 Madagascar 0🇲🇼 Malawi 0🇲🇱 Mali 6🇲🇺 Mauritius 1🇲🇿 Mozambique 0🇳🇦 Namibia 1🇳🇪 Niger 8🇳🇬 Nigeria 25🇨🇬 Republic of the Congo 1🇷🇼 Rwanda 4🇸🇹 São Tomé and Príncipe 0🇸🇳 Senegal 3🇸🇨 Seychelles 1🇸🇱 Sierra Leone 1🇸🇴 Somalia 1🇿🇦 South Africa 16🇸🇸 South Sudan 2🇹🇿 Tanzania 2🇹🇬 Togo 5🇺🇬 Uganda 16🇿🇲 Zambia 4🇿🇼 Zimbabwe 2
Cities and towns
On the calendar
Shubh Vivah muhuratThe Nigerian December wedding seasonGhana, from Easter to DecemberSouth Africa, the spring and summer seasonEthiopia, the season after the rainsThe Coptic and Ethiopian Great LentRamadanGerewol (Wodaabe Courtship Festival)Umhlanga (Reed Dance)Marriage Equality, South Africa (1 December 2006)
🇿🇦 Cape Town, South AfricaSame-sex marriage in South Africa
The legal recognition of same-sex unions established by the Civil Union Act of 2006.Modern · The ceremony
🇿🇦 South AfricaCivil partnership in South Africa
A legal union in South Africa that grants same-sex and opposite-sex couples the same rights as marriage.Vow · Engagement and betrothal
🇺🇬 UgandaRecognition of same-sex unions in Uganda
The legal status of same-sex marriage and civil unions under Ugandan law.Modern
🇿🇼 ZimbabweRecognition of same-sex unions in Zimbabwe
The legal and social landscape for same-sex marriage in ZimbabweModern
🇳🇦 NamibiaRecognition of same-sex unions in Namibia
The legal status of same-sex marriage and foreign union recognition in NamibiaVow
🇱🇷 LiberiaPolygamy in Liberia
A customary practice allowing men to have multiple wives despite civil law.Modern
🇸🇨 SeychellesSame-sex marriage recognition in Seychelles
The legal standing of two men or two women who wish to wed in the Indian Ocean republic.Modern
🇿🇦 South AfricaProhibition of Mixed Marriages Act, 1949
An apartheid-era law in South Africa that banned marriages between white and non-white citizens.Modern
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Recognition of same-sex unions in South Korea: Nerd271, CC BY-SA 4.0, source