Wolof Tribe
The Wolof people are a West African ethnic group found in northwestern Senegal, the Gambia, and southwestern coastal Mauritania. In Senegal, the Wolof are the largest ethnic group (43.3%), while they form a minority ethnic group with about 12% of the Gambian populace.
Like in the Gambia, the Wolof constitute a small fraction of the Mauritania population. They speak the Wolof language in the West Atlantic branch of the Niger-Congo family of languages.
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Source: Zaina Sadar
The Wolof as a people are primarily Muslim and practice Islam as a religion. Details of the pre-Islamic religious traditions of the Wolof are unknown, and their oral rules state them to have been adherents of Islam since the founding king of Jolof.
Wolof Marriage Traditions and Customs
Marriage in Senegal has greatly changed in recent times due to western influences. But in rural areas, the differences are not much. Traditional marriage in Wolof culture is unique, with maternal power playing a significant role. The institution of marriage is a kernel part of the Wolof culture. This assertion implies that to the Wolof people, a family is a critical unit that forms a building block for other social teams into which the Wolof society is organized.
Cross-Cousin Marriage
To form a strong and stable family among the Wolof, it was traditionally believed that cross-cousin marriage (a young man marrying a maternal uncle’s daughter) was the best form of marriage. This preference is hinged on the idea that such arrangements provide the best and most stable marriages.
Although it was traditionally permissible for a young man to marry a paternal aunt’s daughter, the importance attached to the stability and success of the family unit among the Wolof ensured that the priority was given to marriage to a maternal uncle’s daughter.
According to Islamic law, a man may have up to four legal wives if he has the means to cater to them. About 45 percent of Wolof men have at least two wives. Furthermore, levirate marriage remains one of the fundamentals of the Wolof people.
Marriage Rites
The Wolof traditional system in which the parents make all the decisions concerning matters of marriage is very predominant. In this conventional traditional arrangement, the parents were the ones to decide that their son was ripe for marriage, seek an ideal bride for him, and initiate marriage talks.
Under such marriage arrangements, the bride and the groom have little to no say over what happens. This practice was founded on the idea that parents were more suited to choose what was best for their children due to the accumulated wisdom and elderly experience.
An exciting aspect of these arrangements was that the intervention of spiritual diviners was sought to determine if the marriage was feasible before the wedding.
Courtship
After identifying the right girl, the father of a young man would outsource the help of a third party to serve as a go-between. The go-between’s primary duty was to inform the bride’s family about the marriage proposal and find out the position of the girl’s family concerning their interest in their daughter.
The go-between customarily carried kola nuts from the groom’s father during this critical errand. If the girl’s family accepted the kola nuts, they gave the groom permission to court their daughter. At such a point, the boy was expected to furnish the girl and her mother with gifts to win their affection.
Bride Price Payment
For the girl’s father, the young man was expected to assist in chores such as weeding and harvesting, among other masculine endeavors, for a certain period. This process gives the girl’s family room to assess the character of their prospective in-law.
Once it was decided that his character was good, he was permitted the marriage to go ahead. At this stage, other items and gifts would be presented to the girl’s family to seal a covenant that left the young man as the sole suitor.
After the routine Friday prayers at the mosque, a brief marriage ceremony was performed by an Imam (the Wolof people are predominantly Islamic). This ceremony demanded the presence of representatives from both families and witnesses, where food and drinks were shared as everyone feasted together.
Divorce
Despite these factors, which should serve to strengthen marriages, divorce is part of the Wolof culture. The instance of the infidelity of the wife could result in divorce.
Also, if a woman at some point feels that her marriage life is unbearable, she can go back to her kin and refuse to come back. Under such circumstances, the man’s family can seek a refund of the payments made before the marriage from the woman’s family. If the repayment is made in full, the couple is legally divorced and may remarry without any problems.
Conclusion
Culture defines people’s lifestyles and sets the platform upon which people can relate with other cultural groupings in a given place. The marriage traditions of the Wolof people show a clear picture of how the Wolof people regard family relationships and their expected contribution to the well-being of society.
It defines their perception of how the world should be inhabited. A family unit is a fundamental unit of the Wolof culture, and apart from being a building block for society, it defines a man’s economic status.
This aspect makes a family a critical dimension in the financial well-being of the Wolof people. Being an Islam-dominated society, polygamy is fundamental to Wolof marriage traditions.
