Bekwerra people occupy Bekwerra local government area in the northern part of Cross River State, bordering Benue state.
“Our marriage here is the simplest and cheapest in Nigeria,” said Abubu Adagu a young father of three children who spoke to 21st CENTURY CHRONICLE.
Abubu said palm wine is valuable to the Bekwerra people, which an intending in-law has to present to be able to get a wife. This palm wine is presented on the three occasions of the visits during the negotiations and bride price paying and marriage day. So all in all, for a Bekwerra marriage to happen, a man has to present 150 litres of palm wine. That’s however, not all. A man has to present an antelope leg to complete the process.
Bekwerra people have had a very sacred custom about virginity whereby an unmarried girl is expected to remain virgin until marriage. Ushie Sunday Ashiwere, a history enthusiast said, virginity was a thing of pride to the families, hence parents took good care that their daughters kept chaste. Marriage was negotiated by the parents of the intending couple; however modernization has altered some of these practices.
However, there are some traditional customary practices that have remained unchanged over time. Before marriage is contracted, full investigation into the background of the prospective in-laws is carried out either to know if the bride or the groom descended from slaves (ufia) or they share blood relations. When all these are achieved, courtship begins. There are cases where a family may cancel marriage plans upon discovering certain strange family history.
At the end of the courtship, the family fixes the date for introduction. A small ceremony is organized by the bride’s family on the eve of the introduction where advice and prayers are offered for a successful marriage. She is presented with essential domestic gifts like pots, cloths, spoons, plates, a mortar and others.
It is worthy of note that dowry in Bekwarra is very important. A man who wants to have a peaceful marriage till death does him part with his wife, should pay bride price. She will be buried in her father’s house if her husband didn’t pay her dowry.
The traditional marriage ceremony is held in the bride’s compound where all items like salt, palm wine, palm oil, kola nut, wrappers, a goat, a chicken, yams, money for the youths, and finally, an antelope leg are presented. The antelope leg is a significant traditional symbol to the Bekwerra people. It is however not clear what this symbol stands for. But it is the tradition.
The marriage rites conclude with a simple ritual of the pouring of some quantity of palm wine on the ground with certain prayers. The bride is then required to identify her husband. After this ritual, the bride goes in to change and to be finally taken away by her husband. At this stage, there is a bit of drama by her friends who come with complains such as “the bride was attacked on the way’’ or “the car bringing her broke down on the way coming.”
All this is done to add humor, fun and color at the occasion. With the completion of these rites, the bride is escorted at night by some elderly women and two of her friends.
