Adanna Njoku makes a regal picture in her bridal ensemble. - Contributed photos

WESTERN BUREAU:

THERE are two elements that make up a traditional Nigerian wedding, according to Adanna Njoku from the Mbaise village in the Imo state of Nigeria, who married Gerald Ikebilo recently in Ironshore, St James. The couple, both doctors, met in Maryland in the United States of America.

PART ONE

Adanna said the first segment of a conventional Nigerian union includes a courting period, or listing, where the groom pays for the bride in accordance with her 'bridal price'. The payment is typically made by giving gifts of livestock, lavish jewellery, clothes and money.

"I went for a pretty good price," admitted Adanna.

PART TWO

As with any wedding, the bride is also the focal point of a Nigerian wedding. However, a Nigerian bride has two separate moments when she is considered the main attraction, Adanna said. The first includes 'greeting of the guests' by the bride, in which she is dressed in formal, native wear and adorned with traditional trinkets from her village. In Mbaise, the customary jewellery is made of jijada (coral).

The bride enters the wedding location to perform a dance, along with her 'ashoebi' (similar to bridesmaids), and blesses guests using a horsetail stick, a furry apparatus often carried by royalty.

Shortly thereafter, the groom and his family, and the family of the bride, take their respective places and the 'breaking of the cola nuts' commences.

"People may bring lavish and expensive gifts but if cola nuts are forgotten, all else is disregarded," Dr Onyema Njoku, the bride's father, told wedding guests.

The bride returns again to the venue in a tribal wedding dress, complete with a gale (headtie). She then performs the wine-carrying custom in which the woman searches for her husband-to-be.

"It's like play," Adanna said. "He hides and I have to locate him in the crowd while others call to me. Once I find him, I'll hand him the cup of wine to show my interest and he'll drink from the cup to show his acceptance of me."

Adanna gave the groom the cup and he willingly drank. She noted that if she were to spill the wine for any reason, the wedding could not continue. The spilling of the wine is considered a bad omen in Nigerian culture.

Before the wedding ended, several 'money dances' were performed.

"Dancing is a huge part of a Nigerian wedding," Adanna said, "and after working up a hunger from dancing, guests can eat Jamaican dishes as well as traditional Nigerian cuisine like fufu (porridge), chin chin (fried, sweet dumpling) and egusi soup (palm nut)."

hope.evans@gleanerjm.com

Bridesmaids (ashoebi), Patrice Samuels (left) and Alexis Chin await their good friends' wedding ceremony.

The happy couple, Drs Adanna Njoku and Gerald Ikebilo.

Dr Gerald Ikebilo finishes the wine in honour of his new bride.

Friends of the groom Eric Ozulu Ikeche (left), Prince Osy, and Dr Kenneth Enyi enjoy a nightcap

Father of the bride, Dr. Onyema Njoku, blesses his daughter's wine-carrying dance.

Nigerian High Commissioner to Jamaica, James Oladele and his wife, attended the Njoku/Ikebilo wedding in Ironshore, St James.

Kerri-Ann Mills shows off her traditional Nigerian dress and accessories made by local designer 'Auntie P'.

Blushing bride, Adanna Njoku, is dressed for the first part of her traditional Nigerian wedding ceremony.