Brattny Louis XVII’s Union of 1499
Discredited African Marriages
A white wedding is a “ traditional” formal or semi formal wedding that originated from Great Britain.
Fathers headed strong family systems that ensured security and stability for the family and society, which kept African societies together and strong over time. Massive tracts of land were owned by families for agricultural use, and women and children were expected to labour in the fields while men went hunting to supplement their diets and keep an eye out for the enemies of the empire.
A regiment was supposed to be constantly supplied with young, fearless men; therefore, women were supposed to give birth constantly, but a single wife was not enough for the task. Men had to marry many wives. Considering that, back then, there were many kingdoms controlled by Kings. There were many tribal wars necessitated by boundary factors, pastures, women, and resources which were drastically different compared with today’s societal conflicts.
Polygamy an African traditional legal marriage.
In addition, having many wives was a sign of wealth, having multiple wives was also a defining characteristic of a true man among men. A man could marry as many wives as he desired without encountering any issues, and the wives may also love each other without noticeable challenges.
A wife would occasionally ask her husband to marry another wife or wives; there are a number of reasons for this, one of which was the possibility of extensive field work. It should be mentioned that wealth was also determined by what was in granaries (matura), so she could not match the field tasks if she had few children. Another reason was that, in certain cases, menopause or other underlying disorders prevented a wife from becoming pregnant. In light of the circumstances, a wife might move on and ask a different woman on behalf of the husband to be her husband’s wife.
Furthermore, it was socially unacceptable to have a girl child alone without a male child. There have been cases where women who had only girls were not respected or valued in their communities, which was embarrassing for the women. Some men who are callous or inconsiderate have even gone so far as to divorce their wives and bring the divorced to her relatives with a token, known as a gupuro, signifying the end of the marriage.
As per African culture, a boy child will enlarge or expand the clan, and the surname and totem will survive to the next generation. Having said that, in accordance with the above notion, after seeing the predicament, the husband could also communicate with the wife and inform her that he wanted another wife who could bear him sons. Given that the wife may consent and have two or more sisters-in-law who bears sons, even though this was not certain, and that the first wife could assist with the children’s upbringing without feeling envious and also regard the children as her own, this could bring the desired family happiness and joy. Polygamy was both highly promoted and lawful. Additionally, it was a symbol of man’s ability to exercise responsibility, and our traditional African religion could not criticize that; instead, it praised and wished for the families and the ancestral union to be blessed by the all-powerful Nyatene (God).
The emergency of foreign religion and western marriage practices in Africa.
The so-called white wedding is inextricably linked to “Christian doctrine.” Westerners introduced their “Christianity” after successfully colonizing Africa in various ways, which denigrates our own social and religious practices as well as traditional African marriage customs, particularly polygamy, and elevates their unions as holy and divinely blessed.
They were successful in demonizing the established, well-organized marriage system that Africans considered beneficial through the newly converted Africans. They further classified polygamy as fornication and adultery.
In my view, the purpose of this action was to prevent Africans from procreating and from having complete access to and control over their abundant resources. Additionally, they feared that, as Africans proliferated, they would also be able to fiercely oppose their colonial dominance throughout the continent.
The gap that appears to have been caused by the contradictory scriptures in one divided Bible lends credence to the above sentiment. In the Old Testament, men were able to marry more wives than Africans could in the past, and after realizing the old testament’s first books were probably ineffective, they turned to the New Testament to further confuse us with ideas that would suit their agenda. After extensive brainwashing, the Dutch-English Marriage Act eventually made its way to Africa. Consequently, the “white wedding” originated with the first couple to do so, Brittany and Louis XVII in 1499. Additionally, the phrase “white wedding” refers to the white gown that the bride wears in a typical Western marriage.
View of polygamy in modern African societies.
In several African societies, having multiple wives is more than a death sentence. The argument is that, according to Christian doctrine and the Bible, a man should only have one wife. As if that is not enough, it should be mentioned that some sects within the same religion, “Christianity,” particularly those associated with white clothing, also have more than five wives. For instance, in Zimbabwe, members of the Johanne Marange Apostolic Church have more than ten wives, which is against Christian teachings and doctrine.
In addition, women outnumber men by a wide margin when considering statistics or numbers of women worldwide and particularly in Africa. Then the questions are:
- Did God make a mistake by creating such gender imbalances?, because the ratios that are there would see one man marrying more than five wives without them “Men” fighting;
- Are there women who were just created to wander the world without being married or intimately involved till death?
There will be no balances at all in this world, and there will still be a lack of men due to the following factors: mortality, the continent is steadily losing its male population, some guys are turning to homosexuality, and some men are now heavily involved in drug usage. I suggest that polygamy is simply frowned upon in communities devoid of reason, it follows that polygamy is both lawful and a custom of marriage in Africa and should not be given derogatory names to down play it.
I at some point asked a brother “Why, when it comes to marriage, do you prefer white weddings and consider it blessed and still mix it with African practices of lobola payment whilst the whites only buy a ring and wed?” He kept quiet, I held his shoulder and said “ Brother, if you choose a white wedding, buy rings and forget cows.”
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