How many Cows are you Worth?

So while I was in Swaziland I had the chance to go to and traditional Wedding Engagement Ceremony. I know most of you are try to figure out how that would look, what they did, and so on….I was feeling the same way when Jamal and I were invited. We were super excited because not only were we going to see the ceremony but we also were going to a real SiSwati church. Not many people there spoke a lot of English and the people that could speak English they were not fluent at all. 

Here is a little background on African weddings and some of the traditions:
African weddings are a family affair and involve the combining of two lives, two families, and sometimes even two communities! There are many different wedding traditions in the African continent and no two are exactly alike. However, in all the communities the bride plays a very special role and is treated with respect because she is a link between the unborn and the ancestors. A bride might eventually bear a very powerful child, so she is treated with respect.

There are many steps that take place before marriage starting at a very young age where training takes place in how to be a suitable partner. Girls will many times go to circumcision schools where women teach them what is involved in marriage, and in some ethnic groups even learn secret codes and languages so that they can communicate with other married women. Weddings can be very elaborate, involving feasting and dancing for days within a community, they can be very simple, or they can even be performed in huge marriage ceremonies involving many different couples.

Before any ceremony is talked about or planned the groom and the father sit down and talk about how many cows the father wants for his daughters hand in marriage. This is very important because when a man takes a daughter from her family, the family then loses working hands around the home. A groom can pay up to 50 cows for his lovely bride but it is all up the father and how he feels. In Swaziland part of the many customs for an engagement is that you must have the ceremony at church. No one in the church will know that you are getting engaged besides your preacher. Many of the groom’s and bride’s family will attend the wedding ceremony. The church is normally decorated for this occasion. The bride and groom both bring about four of their friends with them and the church plays a game to figure out who is getting married. Once the church has neared it down to the actually two that are getting married, the bride and groom stand in front of the church and pronounce there undying love for each other. After that the preacher normally preaches about love and commitment and then lunch served afterward, which seemed more like dinner to me. I talked to our contact Xoni after the ceremony and he told me that if the family wasn’t Christian there would have been animal sacrifices made for the ceremony.  This is part of the old traditions of many tribes in Swazi. He also said, that though many people confess to be Christians in the country they still maintain many of their old tribal traditions that go against the bible.

So I my question today is how many cows do you think your worth?
My answer will always be……. I’m priceless, because I’m a child of the King.

So while I was in Swaziland I had the chance to go to and traditional Wedding Engagement Ceremony. I know most of you are try to figure out how that would look, what they did, and so on….I was feeling the same way when Jamal and I were invited. We were super excited because not only were we going to see the ceremony but we also were going to a real SiSwati church. Not many people there spoke a lot of English and the people that could speak English they were not fluent at all. 

Here is a little background on African weddings and some of the traditions:
African weddings are a family affair and involve the combining of two lives, two families, and sometimes even two communities! There are many different wedding traditions in the African continent and no two are exactly alike. However, in all the communities the bride plays a very special role and is treated with respect because she is a link between the unborn and the ancestors. A bride might eventually bear a very powerful child, so she is treated with respect.

There are many steps that take place before marriage starting at a very young age where training takes place in how to be a suitable partner. Girls will many times go to circumcision schools where women teach them what is involved in marriage, and in some ethnic groups even learn secret codes and languages so that they can communicate with other married women. Weddings can be very elaborate, involving feasting and dancing for days within a community, they can be very simple, or they can even be performed in huge marriage ceremonies involving many different couples.

Before any ceremony is talked about or planned the groom and the father sit down and talk about how many cows the father wants for his daughters hand in marriage. This is very important because when a man takes a daughter from her family, the family then loses working hands around the home. A groom can pay up to 50 cows for his lovely bride but it is all up the father and how he feels. In Swaziland part of the many customs for an engagement is that you must have the ceremony at church. No one in the church will know that you are getting engaged besides your preacher. Many of the groom’s and bride’s family will attend the wedding ceremony. The church is normally decorated for this occasion. The bride and groom both bring about four of their friends with them and the church plays a game to figure out who is getting married. Once the church has neared it down to the actually two that are getting married, the bride and groom stand in front of the church and pronounce there undying love for each other. After that the preacher normally preaches about love and commitment and then lunch served afterward, which seemed more like dinner to me. I talked to our contact Xoni after the ceremony and he told me that if the family wasn’t Christian there would have been animal sacrifices made for the ceremony.  This is part of the old traditions of many tribes in Swazi. He also said, that though many people confess to be Christians in the country they still maintain many of their old tribal traditions that go against the bible.

So I my question today is how many cows do you think your worth?
My answer will always be……. I’m priceless, because I’m a child of the King.