A Yòrubá Engagement
Preparing for the event
Rain fell before our Yòrubá engagement. Not hard but just enough to give us a few minutes to collect ourselves and observe the world through tinted windows. A few feet away uninvited cameramen stand in the light rain waiting for the bride and her sisters to emerge. The photographers are a tradition at a Yòrubá engagement. They take pictures of people, which they then develop within minutes, and then try to sell back to the unsuspecting party.
There is already a frenzy of activity: women in colorful traditional attires called "asookes" mill around. Their head scarves, or geles, perched at impossible angles on their heads, defying gravity.
We watch as the official caterers transfer food from their vans to the hall. We can tell them apart from guests who decided to bring their own food and voluntarily contribute to the event. I watch as the traditional "bata" drummers run from arriving guest to exiting guest, playing the drums, and praising them in our language in the hopes of getting "sprayed," a term used for receiving money on the forehead, neck, or any other body part instead of in the hands.
This is the first Yòrubá engagement in my immediate family. It is my sister's engagement. We are excited. Invitations had already been printed and sent out on her behalf so most of the arriving guests look unfamiliar. I can't hide my glee when I spot a familiar face after so many unfamiliar faces file into the hall.
It starts when it starts!
Already an hour late, my other sisters and I decide to go in the hall, leaving the bride behind. The ceremony starts whenever our parents want it to start, regardless of the time printed on the invitations. Filled with colorful attire the hall glowed: green for the groom's side and purple for the bride's side. Even random guests with no ties to either sides still come dressed in supporting colors. Almost in a sinful yet luxurious manner, many guests already started eating and reveling.
There are two bands playing simultaneously, each refusing to give the other a moment of spotlight. Traditional Calabar dancers move through the guests, gyrating, and shaking to gospel music belted out by another band. I stand rooted to what is going on around me. When it was time, people expected me to jump into the flow of the festivities.
Congratulation Gifts
"Take one!" a random lady yells at me, poking me with the gift item she wants to give me. I look at it. A plastic fan with a picture of my sister and her fiancé printed on it with the words "Congratulations.” The guests and other extended family members are bringing gifts to share with each other. Just like the coolers of food and crates of drinks they'd personally brought in to share. Soon enough, I received plastic containers, handkerchiefs, scarves, and pens from different individuals with pictures or words congratulating the newly engaged couple.
I stroll over to the table that holds the traditional gifts from the family of the groom to our family: tubers of yams, crates of beer, sacks of rice, bottles of wine, a hamper basket of items, and boxes of biscuits "“ some of which I can correctly guess based on the shape of each wrapped gift! More and more wrapped items and show up and added to the pile.
It is at this moment, I glance at my sisters and we exchange a smile thinking back at how the day started. Way before the crack of dawn, everyone started changing into traditional attire, navigated through the maze of 30 relatives who had decided to come spend the night, prepare, and carpool with us to the festivities.
The Yòrubá Engagement starts… almost!
The event is now an hour and a half late, and the traditional Yòrubá engagement ceremony hasn't officially started!
An outsider looking in would think total chaos, but in my culture this is one of the ways we express love and support. The selflessness to tirelessly work and celebrate one another is something I am proud. We take the concept of sharing to a new level.
Yòrubá means Community
In my Yòrubá culture, the term "community" is not just another word. We live and breathe it. It takes a community to raise children, teach children, acknowledge their successes, encourage them when they fail, and, celebrate their engagements and weddings. A Nigerian traditional engagement isn't really about the celebrants. It is an opportunity for family and friends (and friends of friends) to reunite and reminisce. Everyone is family. So by bringing more food to a ceremony or bringing their own gifts to hand to your guests is an obligation, not an inconvenience.
The term, "mo gbá», mo ya" literally translates into "I heard, I stopped by." This means if I knew someone was getting engaged or married, I would stop by to celebrate with them — official invitations to traditional engagements are done out of courtesy.
As I observe the genuine happiness and warmth that emanates from the people moving around, eating, dancing, and sharing, I smile. For a moment and I think I had walked into someone else's engagement party.
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