Wedding traditions in Tanzania share a common thread in terms of values, views, and experiences with other African regions. You may celebrate your heritage and honor your ancestry by incorporating your customs and traditions in your wedding ceremony and reception. Aside from performing traditional rituals, couples can also incorporate ethnic touches into its wedding program and reception.
Couples should know their wedding traditions. It is important that they understand the reason behind these traditions and the history of the traditions because this will enable couples to perform the traditions more sincerely.
Most Tanzanian weddings take place on Sundays during the preferred time of year, which is Shawwal, the tenth month of the lunar Islamic calendar. Shawwal means to ‘lift or carry’; so named because female camels normally would be carrying a fetus at this time of year. Below are the most common Tanzanian Wedding Traditions that are recommended to be incorporated in your planned wedding.
Sumo
The Sumo is the closest friend of the mother of the bride, who remains with the bride at all times before the wedding. The sumo will give the bride a full beauty treatment, attending to the bride’s hair, nails and skin. This includes covering the bride’s body in a thick concoction of lime juice mixed with sugar, as an exfoliant to rid the bride’s skin of all hair (only the hair on her head is permitted) as it is considered an impurity to be anything less than smooth. After this, the bride’s hands and feet are intricately decorated with henna, and the hair on her head is covered in oils and set in twists. The bride’s body is also anointed with perfumed oils and her bridal make-up is heavily applied. She is then adorned with jewels and given her veil, and awaits her groom.
The Wedding Ceremony
One of the Muslim wedding traditions in Tanzania is the custom that the Tanzanian bride is not permitted to attend the wedding celebration. After an excessive beauty preparation, the bride is to remain at home segregated from the wedding ceremony. Only her family and relatives will attend the wedding celebration. The bride should have never actually met her husband, she has only seen him through her veils, and of course the groom has never laid eyes on her.
The First Night
After the wedding ceremony, the bride patiently awaits for her new husband in a bed filled with the petals of fragrant flowers, which the sumo made up for the couple. The groom is expected to pay the sumo with the agreed fees for her services, the sumo, then, leaves the couple by themselves. Virginity is the bride’s most valuable asset. The groom is expected to take his wife’s virginity, whether she consents to or refuses his advances. If there is no evidence of the bride’s virginity, (usually the bed-sheet stained with blood is requested), the bride must give back all of her wedding gifts as punishment. However, if the bed-sheets are bloodied, she is welcomed into the family with great celebration.