Bwatiye people, otherwise known as Bachama, are mostly found in parts of Cameroon and Lamurde, Demsa and Numan local governments of Adamawa state.
Like many other cultures, traditional nuptials are an extremely serious affair in the Bwatiye culture.
In an interview with 21st CENTURY CHRONICLE, Chief Timawus Mathias, a veteran broadcaster and the Nzobyalata Hama Bachama said Bwatiye people are naturally hospitable and can marry from anywhere.
Chief Timawus said his wife has an Igbo father and a Bachama mother, and one of my sons is married to an Ekiti woman and the other to a Jukun lady from Taraba state.
“We do not see religion and tribe, but humans,” he said.
The Hama Bachama said traditionally, marriage begins with a daughter intimating her mother that she has found someone who wants to marry her, not the other way round.
The man, according to tradition, is expected to send delegates (Nzotufe) to the bride’s family, led by a person the groom trusts, who will continue to mediate between the couple even after the marriage.
“A nod is not given immediately as the girl’s family investigates the groom to ensure that he has a good family background. If his request is accepted, he is told to send his parents to speak to the girl’s parents.
“A list is given to the parents when they visit and items on the list include three mats, three envelopes containing tokens, three bags of salt, three bags of Kolanuts and these days, sweets (candies) which is a culture adopted from the Hausas.”
He explained that the items are divided into three equal parts for the bride and her parents, after which the bride price is
fixed and has remained 30 pounds even with the change to naira from British pounds.
“The Bwatiye people traditionally collect pound talatin. The girl and her parents share these items equally, portion them in bits and distribute among family and friends. This is a practical way to announce her marriage to the people.”
Chief Timawus said after the marriage rites are completed, the family of the bride organises a send-off ceremony and she is given food items to last at least seven months to take along to her husband’s house.
“The food items consist of kuka (dried baobab leaves), dried okro, flour, firewood to cook, brooms to clean the house and a cow for feast. She is allowed to take only one piece of furniture, a bed, in addition to a three-legged earthenware pot for her calabash
decorations.
“A chunk of the beef from the cow she took is cooked overnight and used to prepare a special meal of okra served in calabashes to the groom’s family and friends a day after the bride’s arrival. The blood from the cow is also fried to make a delicacy we the Bachama people savor.”
He also noted that despite westernisation and its effect on cultures, the Bachama traditional marriage culture is largely intact, as till this day a groom and his friends go to work on the girl’s father’s land even if it is for a day.
“While they are on the farm, the girl brings food for them.”
He pointed out that in some families, the Hausa culture of lefe has been adopted and the items the bride takes to her matrimonial home these days includes furniture and electronics.
Chief Timawus said no matter how long the couple cohabits, even if they have children, the bride price is expected to be refunded upon divorce by the person coming to marry her, or the lady cannot remarry, and she continues to be seen as married to the husband she left.
A Bachama woman, Mrs Hummati Bamayi recounting her marital experience with 21st CENTURY CHRONICLE, said like most Bachama couples, she met her husband and they fell in love and decided of their own accord to get married.
“When the time for solemnisation of my marriage came, my then fiancé sent some friends, and an older person the (Nzotufe) who came to present his request to my family. Though I told my mother of their impending visit, I was called and asked if I knew who the emissaries represented and asked if I was interested in their request.
“My assent gave way to the next rite, which is ring money. The engagement could have been nullified had any of us seen someone else we preferred to be with and this money would have been returned and since this didn’t happen, the next stage of the rites, including kojee (mat) and bride price commenced.”
Bamayi recalls that of all the rites, the one she enjoyed most was the lokai.
“This is the ceremony of gathering gifts and food items for the bride from her family members as she is expected to take food items to last her for a period of at least six months. My friends and young girls from my family carried decorated calabashes in a procession, which is punctuated with nzo-koombo (ululations). We stopped by the houses of relatives for lamato (advice) and I was admonished on patience and commitment to my marriage. I cried and laughed, and we played throughout the day.”
She also shared that her groom’s friends paid a sum to her friends for her release.
Mr. Klueino Faruk, the owner of Eagle’s Wing Youth Development
Initiative, said during his wedding, after the ring money was accepted, a second delegation went to present three mats, (Lokai) and a token which ranges from N1000 to N10,000, depending on the groom’s capacity.
“The amount is usually small as the culture sees excessive bride price as selling off their daughter, and they want to retain a kind of ownership of her. When a Bachama woman dies, her remains are taken back to her family,” he explained.
Faruk said he gave three separate envelopes for the bride and each of her parents.
Explaining the idea behind the mats, he said, “the mats are meant for the girl and her parents. My fiancée’s mat was meant for us to sit on when I come to see her.”
He said courtship is encouraged in the culture for the intending couple to know themselves.
“It is, however, forbidden for us to have carnal knowledge of each other. So all visits were to the girl’s house, with people present. In the olden days the intending groom built a hut as part of the marriage rites, even though some families don’t insist on it.
He said for any marriage proceeding to be discontinued or a marriage to be dissolved in Bachama culture, all money spent by the groom, including items bought must be returned to him by the bride’s family, the only exception being the work done on the farm of the bride’s father.
