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)
🇪🇹 Addis Ababa, EthiopiaWedding customs in Ethiopia
A collection of diverse marriage rites across Ethiopian tribes and the Orthodox Christian community.Rite · Finding a match
🇳🇬 NigeriaLefe
The presentation of gifts from the groom to the bride in Hausa weddings.Gift custom · The weeks before
🇳🇬 NigeriaMoney marriage
A practice in southern Nigeria where a girl is given in marriage to settle her family's debts.Gift custom · Finding a match
🇰🇪 KenyaKoito
A Kalenjin dowry negotiation ritual that marks the formal agreement between families.Gift custom · Engagement and betrothal
🇿🇦 South AfricaUkuthwalwa
A South African practice of abducting a woman for marriage, now largely illegal and contested.Betrothal · Finding a match
🇿🇦 South Africa and 1 moreLobololobola (Zulu, Xhosa, Swazi, Ndebele), mahadi (Sesotho), mahari (Swahili), magadi (Sepedi), bogadi (Setswana), lovola (Xi
The livestock or cash payment from a groom's family to a bride's family that formalizes a customary marriage in SouthernGift custom · Finding a match
🇰🇪 Kenya and 1 moreAyie
The Luo bride price ceremony where the mother accepts payment and agrees to the marriage.Gift custom · Engagement and betrothal
🇷🇼 RwandaPolygamy in Rwanda
The traditional practice of men having multiple wives, now illegal but still found in rural areas.Gift custom · Engagement and betrothal
🇿🇦 South AfricaUkungenwa
A South African custom where a widowed woman is inherited by her late husband's male relatives.Family role · After the wedding
🇬🇳 GuineaPolygamy in Guinea
A polygynous marriage structure regulated by Guinean family law since 2019.Gift custom · Engagement and betrothal
🇹🇩 ChadPolygamy in Chad
A legally recognized marriage structure where one husband has multiple wives across Chadian communities.Family role
🇳🇪 Niger and 5 morePolygyny
A marriage structure where a man has multiple wives simultaneouslyGift custom
🇳🇬 NigeriaLefe
The presentation of gifts from the groom to the bride in Hausa weddings.Gift custom · The weeks before
🇳🇬 NigeriaMoney marriage
A practice in southern Nigeria where a girl is given in marriage to settle her family's debts.Gift custom · Finding a match
🇰🇪 KenyaKoito
A Kalenjin dowry negotiation ritual that marks the formal agreement between families.Gift custom · Engagement and betrothal
🇿🇦 South AfricaUkuthwalwa
A South African practice of abducting a woman for marriage, now largely illegal and contested.Betrothal · Finding a match
🇿🇦 South Africa and 1 moreLobololobola (Zulu, Xhosa, Swazi, Ndebele), mahadi (Sesotho), mahari (Swahili), magadi (Sepedi), bogadi (Setswana), lovola (Xi
The livestock or cash payment from a groom's family to a bride's family that formalizes a customary marriage in SouthernGift custom · Finding a match
🇰🇪 Kenya and 1 moreAyie
The Luo bride price ceremony where the mother accepts payment and agrees to the marriage.Gift custom · Engagement and betrothal
🇷🇼 RwandaPolygamy in Rwanda
The traditional practice of men having multiple wives, now illegal but still found in rural areas.Gift custom · Engagement and betrothal
🇿🇦 South AfricaUkungenwa
A South African custom where a widowed woman is inherited by her late husband's male relatives.Family role · After the wedding
🇬🇳 GuineaPolygamy in Guinea
A polygynous marriage structure regulated by Guinean family law since 2019.Gift custom · Engagement and betrothal
🇹🇩 ChadPolygamy in Chad
A legally recognized marriage structure where one husband has multiple wives across Chadian communities.Family role
🇳🇪 Niger and 5 morePolygyny
A marriage structure where a man has multiple wives simultaneouslyGift custom
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Lefe: Useendk, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Ukuthwalwa: Federal Bureau of Investigation, Public domain, source
- Lobolo: Iwuala Lucy, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Ayie: SteveRwanda, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Polygyny: Unknown author, Public domain, source