Do they really flog?

Tribes differ, traditions differ, but a tribe that take their tradition to its peak, its none other than the Hausa tribe. Most people keep asking this question, if they really flog the grooms in the Hausa land. I just want you to know firstly that Hausa and Fulani are two different tribes, and the flogging of the groom is a tradition practiced by Fulani’s not Hausa. It is called the “Sharo” but I’m writing fully on the Hausa Marriage.

In the Hausa land, when a guy sees a girl he likes, he goes to meet the girl’s father first for permission to speak to the girl, so after talking for a long while and they fully understand each other and they agree to get married, the guy will send his guardian( not necessarily his father, may be his uncle) and some respected elders to go meet the girl’s family and ask for her hand in marriage.

If the girl’s family agrees, then the boy’s family will drop some kolanuts, pack of sweets,money, drinks and so on, so the money and drinks they are giving out, the Hausas call it “Nagani inaso” which means “I see and I love”. So what the guy is trying to say by that is, these gifts he has given out, the girls family should share it with the relatives, so it will be known to everyone that the girl is engaged.

Once the engagement is done, another day will be fixed, for another meeting where they will finally decide on what date should be chosen for the wedding, after the wedding date has been fixed, the groom will then bring clothes for the bride in boxes, some people bring about 3-4 boxes, while some others bring about 12 boxes depending on your financial capacity, the boxes would contain laces, Ankara, veils, shoes, everything the bride will need, some even put diamonds and gold. Like I said it depends.

Few weeks to the wedding, the bride’s family in return will take foodstuffs to the groom’s family, then a week to the wedding proper, the groom would show his house to the bride’s family, because it is the bride that will furnish the entire house, the groom’s part is just to build the house.. (Let me guess, you are like what…..? Why wasn’t I born into the Hausa tribe).

Now the wedding is approaching fast, two days to the wedding proper,there will be a traditional henna setting for the bride, like very early in the morning, an elderly woman, in most cases the bride’s grandma will come and sprinkle a local “lalle” at the bride( which is believed to protect the bride), then in the afternoon, the bride gets her henna designed with her friends and everyone.

The final event before the wedding is the “Kamu” event which is the unveiling of the bride, so as to introduce the bride to the groom’s family, cause they don’t even know who the bride is yet, aside the groom and the guardian. The event is done in a more classy way these days, it is done in a nicely decorated hall, the bride is seated with her friends with a veil covering her face, so the groom’s family one after the other go to open the veil and see the bride, and they start making that Hausa scream of excitement, then they spray perfume on the bride, and lastly the groom will then unveil his bride and spray money on her, and they all dance, eat and merry.

Finally it’s the wedding day, where there will be a family get-together, the women will come together and be with the bride, while the men on the other hand will go for the “Awuri” in the mosque or wherever situated to be. That’s where the dowry will be paid, in the presence of the Imam, and the Imam will pronounce them as husband and wife, (take note, it’s only the men that are present there, when all that is done). Then the men together with the groom come back home and that signifies that all necessary things have been carried out, then they celebrate by taking pictures,eating and celebrating.

Hmmm, What a tradition. I enjoyed every bit of it though and I hope you did as well, at some point, I was wishing I was a Hausa girl, but either ways, I’m still proud of my tribe, and yea the answer to your question..Do they really flog? Like I said earlier, it’s a Fulani tradition called Sharo not a Hausa tradition, and the civilised ones don’t anymore but they used to, times have changed, and some people have decided to put away with some wild traditions

That’s right, you got your answer, so please just in case there was a Hausa girl you hoped on marrying, but based on the fact that you were ignorant about this, you decided to let go of her, I can kindly advice you to go get your girl back. if you read to this point, again thank you and please drop a comment on what you think about this post and stay tuned to my next post.