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Dowry and giftsIndia's dowry curse: Outlawed practice remains deeply entrenched - Reporters DressHBCU mascots get married during homecoming CustomsWhy Brides Are Refusing to Buy Traditional Wedding Dresses for $5,000 RitesGrooms redefine wedding wardrobes with comfort, tradition, and reusability in mind LawColumn: Va. conservatives should vote for marriage equality amendment Dowry and giftsDLSA Secretary calls for wider student awareness on Dowry Prohibition Act Mass weddingsWhy South Africans won't stop spending on celebrations Dowry and giftsNow Solar Panels given as dowry in Pakistan RitesFrom brides’ hands to a Starbucks cup: Meet Manii Basran, the mehendi artist who turned her art into a vi RitesJefferies Sees A Reason for Indian Hotels To Cheer Louder In The Upcoming Wedding Season Dowry and giftsIndia's dowry curse: Outlawed practice remains deeply entrenched - Reporters DressHBCU mascots get married during homecoming CustomsWhy Brides Are Refusing to Buy Traditional Wedding Dresses for $5,000 RitesGrooms redefine wedding wardrobes with comfort, tradition, and reusability in mind LawColumn: Va. conservatives should vote for marriage equality amendment Dowry and giftsDLSA Secretary calls for wider student awareness on Dowry Prohibition Act Mass weddingsWhy South Africans won't stop spending on celebrations Dowry and giftsNow Solar Panels given as dowry in Pakistan RitesFrom brides’ hands to a Starbucks cup: Meet Manii Basran, the mehendi artist who turned her art into a vi RitesJefferies Sees A Reason for Indian Hotels To Cheer Louder In The Upcoming Wedding Season

EveryShaadi

All wedding traditions

674 traditions so far, best known first. 108 more are on the list to be written. Filter by region, kind and stage of the wedding.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

🇪🇹 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

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

The weekly EveryShaadi

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