Somali wedding

Somali Wedding Ceremony

Ali Egal

Arguably, the Somali wedding ceremony is most beautiful and stunning wedding in whole world. It is always fairly expensive. Somali wedding ceremony contains two different ceremonies, the urban and countryside ceremonies
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The urban or modern ceremony always takes place in hotel ballroom or the groom’s family or relative home. Whatever the venue is, much feasting and dancing are done on this occasion. Traditionally, the bride and the groom arrive separately at the wedding, escorted by their respective gender from close relatives and friends; in addition one best man (manhiis) accompanies the groom while one the bride’s maid (manhiisad) comes with the bride. Usually dances and sing take place during the wedding and only the young and unwed dance and sing. This is occasion for them to rate each other with aim of selecting a mate. The wedding ceremony last seven days each night is an occasion for dancing and sings by the young people. On the seventh night marks the end of wedding period.

The countryside or traditional wedding is a quite different from the urban wedding. The older relatives of the groom handle the marriage request. It starts with the meeting in which one of the elders of the groom’s side. usually the most eloquent or best known among them, formally announces the request of the bride and acceptance of the request is formalized with the handshake and it followed by the payment of engagement and later the full payment of the bride ( yarad), the bride price will be one hundred camels, the horse and rifle. The wedding celebration may take place immediate after the pronunciation of the marriage or it might take place months later. The night of the wedding ceremony is a time of celebration and exuberance. The ceremony ideally takes the place in the new home of the couple whether that is a bridal AQAL (Somali portable home) or a town home.

Finally, Somali wedding consider the most important occasion in Somalia, families in Somalia start preparing a months before the wedding. The Somali girls and boys usually get married on their early ages, as early as fourteen and fifteen.