Marriage customs in Cote d'Ivoire
Cote d'Ivoire is a multi-ethnic country. Each ethnic group has its own unique marriage customs, so the marriage customs in Cote d'Ivoire are like a colorful kaleidoscope, colorful. The Ebrie people living on the southeastern coast of Cote d'Ivoire practice polygamy and traditionally believe that polygamy is a sign of wealth. If a man has only one wife, it shows that his family is not well-off enough.
The reason why polygamy is prevalent among the Ebriers is not only to show off their wealth, but also to have the need for farming and housework. Not only are Ebriere women able to endure hardships and work hard, but they are also willing to do heavy labor, believing that they can free up their husbands 'time and allow them to participate in and handle political affairs in the village and even the tribe.
According to custom, the person who lives with her husband for the longest is most favored by her husband, and her status and power also ranks first among the group of wives, becoming the "first lady." If the husband remarries, her consent must be obtained. The marriage of Ebriere children is generally decided by the father or uncle. If there are several daughters, the father has the right to marry the eldest daughter to his good friend. Once the girl's father or uncle agrees to the marriage, the young man can marry her.
Wedding bookings are usually delivered in two installments. The first time was on the girl's birthday, and the young man personally delivered a pair of anklets and some potato chips to the girl's father; the second time was on the day when the wedding date was chosen, and the young man wanted to deliver a dowry to the girl's family. The dowry is usually CFA francs and a few pieces of cloth to make a "pani" skirt. After the wedding, the young man and the girl became legal couple. At this time, if the girl does not agree to the marriage, the young man has the right to ask the girl's father for the return of the betrothal gift.
When withdrawing gifts, only the dowry is generally returned, not the money. The Ebriere people prohibit intermarriage between close relatives, and prohibit underage and forced marriage. In general, men and women from different regions and tribes can marry, but marriage is prohibited if one party is Muslim or comes from a tribe that follows the patrilineal clan system.
In real life, there is no fixed pattern of marriage customs among the Ebriers. After giving foot-colored gifts, especially after giving a full dowry, the young man can take the girl away and hold the wedding on a date. According to current custom, both parents and family members of the couple must attend the wedding ceremony. At the beginning of the wedding, the groom will publicly announce that he wants so-and-so to be his wife and declare that he has paid a full dowry. Then, the groom hosted a banquet for all the guests present at the wedding. At banquets, ginger wine is an indispensable auspicious drink.
After marriage, if one of the spouses is disloyal to the other, it will in principle lead to divorce. However, this is not entirely true in real life. In most cases, if the husband has an affair, he only needs to pay a sum of compensation to the deceived wife. However, if the wife is unfaithful to her husband, most of them end in divorce. Even if the husband insists on leaving, he will gather his peers in the village to report the fact of being deceived. Peers criticize and demand that wives who are disloyal to their husbands correct their misdeeds.
If the place where the improper sexual relationship occurred was not in their own home, their peers would ask the woman who had misbehaved to buy ginger wine and treat her to apologize; if the incident occurred in their own home, the unfaithful wife would not only buy ginger wine, but also buy a sheep and a few chickens, and they would be slaughtered in public in front of the door to avenge the shame. However, the man who seduced the woman was at large. No one held him accountable, let alone asked him to compensate for the losses caused.
Customarily, regardless of the reason, the Ebriai people are generally not allowed to repudiate their wives. Divorce is allowed only under one of the following circumstances: first, between the couple, one spouse has misbehaved that is disloyal to the other, and amends and compensation are not enough to repair the broken relationship as a result; second, both spouses have agreed to no longer maintain the relationship, and the husband has agreed not to claim reimbursement from the woman for the dowry; third, the husband abuses his wife, which habitually mainly refers to the husband poisoning his wife.
Under normal circumstances, neither spouse would be the first to file a divorce request. Because if the woman first requests for divorce, she must repay her ex-husband's dowry before remarrying; if the man first requests for divorce, the woman will no longer refund the dowry. After the divorce, all children are left to the father, but the mother has the right to visit the children regularly. In terms of marriage, the Dane people living in the western region of Cote d'Ivoire, contrary to the custom of other tribes that prohibits marriage with other tribes, stipulate that men of their own tribe must choose women from different totem tribes as their spouses before marriage can be completed.
After marriage, if his wife is found to have misbehaved, he is often punished with material compensation, and in some cases, this may lead to divorce. After the incident, it is entirely up to the husband to decide whether to punish or divorce. If the husband is looking for an opportunity to abandon his unsatisfactory wife, and the wife's misbehavior is discovered by the husband at this time, and the misbehavior wife is sent back to her parents 'parents, and the parents' parents must also return the dowry. The lover of an unscrupulous wife will also be punished and pay the deceived husband the entire cost of supporting his wife. If a deceived husband does not hold his unfaithful wife accountable and still wants to keep her, her family does not need to return the dowry. However, the bad man who seduced his wife will send some clothes to the couple and some wine and chicken to the elderly who mediate the dispute to apologize.