Itsekiri traditional marriage and the Itsekiri people have peculiar and unique nature. They are located in Niger delta area 0f Nigeria, they are mostly fishermen and skillful traders as a tribe in Niger Delta were they inhabit.
The area has been the home of the Itshekiri’s for centuries and they are very rich in culture. The Itsekiri are so proud of their homeland that they traditionally prefix it as “The Kingdom of Warri” or ‘IWERE’ as it’s name.
Just like other tribes in Nigeria, the Itsekiri marriage arrangements is very colorful and likable. Unlike the other tribes in the country, the Itsekiris does not collect more than N24.00 as bride price from the groom and his family.
SEE ALSO: Traditional Marriage In Edo State, The List And Requirements
When it comes to marriage, an average Itsekiri man or woman values the unity of the marriage more than any form of gifts that they may receive nor give to the others. When you take some look into their weddings, you hardly differentiates it from their numerous cultural festivals because they are so attached to their cultures to the extents that it precedes every other things that they do.
To buttress this fact, merely looking at their dressing even before their dialects tells you of their origin. Itsekiri wedding are known to so colorful that all aspects of their traditions are interwoven which makes the occasion to be deep cultural edifices on display!
Itsekiri Traditional Marriage List:
- Clothes, nice traditional fabrics
- Jewelries of high qualities
- Drinks, and assorted wines
- Food items for the Occasion
- Kola nuts
- N24.00 for the bride price
For the bride, the day is usually busy even though it is expected to be like that but what makes an Itsekiri’s bride to have an extra ordinary busy day in the day of her wedding is that she must put on three maiden looks namely: Gold, Silver, and Coral at different times while presenting her self to different VIPs on that day.
SEE ALSO: Cost Of Traditional Marriage Rites In Mbaise, Imo State
Firstly, she puts on Silver dress and goes unveiled to greet the elders and to confirm that the special man in their midst has come to marry her, there after she is downed on a full Itsekiri outfit with her husband and present themselves to the elders for blessings, lastly she and husband puts on their traditional attire to round up the day.
The marriage rites are usually performed with hot drinks, chest of beads, and kola nuts. Another custom that the bride’s family performs on the groom is to check him through if he has any missing parts, usually his toes and fingers and make sure that they are 10-10 each. The Itsekiri people has a lot in common with the Ijaw people. History has it that Ijaws are the descendants of Itsekiri from a disowned son of Oba Olua of Benin.
SEE ALSO: List Of Ijaw Traditional Marriage Rite
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