Flirty & Feisty Romance Blog...spice up your relationships: #Brides From #Africa ~ #Botswanabrides #Africanbrides #Wedding

Tuesday, 22 January 2019

#Brides From #Africa ~ #Botswanabrides #Africanbrides #Wedding

Welcome to Brides From Africa

It is great to be back with my first Brides From Africa for 2019.

This week, I bring you Brides From Botswana in Southern Africa.

Botswana, one of Africa's landlocked countries is situated in the south-west part of the continent. To the west and north, it is bordered by Namibia, to the south, it is bordered by South Africa, Zimbabwe to the east, and shares a small part of its borders with Zambia in the northeast.

In Botswana, traditional marriage or wedding cannot take place without first taking part in what is known as the Patlo ceremony.

The Kgosi is the chief of the tribe who will also officiate at the wedding.

BEFORE PATLO:

The Bride and Groom announce their wedding 21 days prior to the wedding.

During that time anyone who objects to their wedding makes it known to the Kgosi.

A wedding cannot take place unless the bride and groom's parents agree. In the absence of parents, there would be other family members such as grandparents, uncles or aunts, to stand in for parents and give their consent.

Also, the groom is required to build a house for the couple to live in before the wedding can take place.

Negotiations are carried out back and forth between the bride and groom's aunts and uncles to determine the bridal price and how it will be paid out at the Patlo ceremony.

PATLO:

At the Patlo ceremony, the bridal price 'lobola' is handed over or paid out to the bride's family.

It is common in Botswana to do three celebrations; the traditional ceremony, the civil ceremony as well as the white wedding.

However, some couples do the traditional and the civil ceremonies only. In Botswana, the society places a lot of respect on traditional ceremonies, so much so that if a couple only performs the civil ceremony, they are not considered married.

WEDDING:

For the women, traditional dress is required to be worn, which involves wearing a skirt and blouse, a shawl, and a head covering.

The Kgosi have one rule. It is required that the women sit apart from the men, on the floor. In other words, while the men sit on chairs, the women sit on the hard concrete floor.

The groom’s family goes through a long negotiating process to reach an agreement with the bride’s family.

Afterward, the Lobola (bride price) is paid. Then the groom presents the cows for Lobola.

The normal bride price is 8 cows, but if the couple already have a child out of wedlock before the Lobola is paid, the price goes up to 9 cows (the extra cow paid is for “trespassing”).

Read more about Botswana Traditional Wedding here.

All photos are courtesy of Google.com

Thank you for visiting. Please leave me a comment.

If you have bridal photos to share from your place, send it to me via email and I'll share it here and give you credit. I love romance and swooning over bride photos is my hobby.

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