Kanuri People
Kanuri, African people, the dominant element of Bornu state’s population in northeastern Nigeria, are also found in large numbers in southeastern Niger. The Kanuri tribes consist of the Yerwa Kanuri, the Manga Kanuri, and several other sub-tribes.
The Kanuri language is classified as belonging to the Saharan branch of the Nilo-Saharan family. Most of the Kanuri live in the Borno province of northeastern Nigeria, where they are the dominant people group.
They are also located in Niger, Chad, Cameroon and around Lake Chad. Most trace their origins to ruling lineages of the medieval Kanem-Bornu Empire and its client states or provinces.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqwAIhwg-Qo
Source: Afrotribes TV
In contrast to the neighbouring Toubou or Zaghawa pastoralists, Kanuri groups have traditionally been sedentary, farming, fishing the Chad Basin, and trading and salt processing.
The Kanuri have been Muslims since the 11th century and practice the Malikite code of Islamic law.
Kanuri Marriage Traditions and Customs
The Kanuris are the dominant ethnic group in Borno State. The way the Kanuris conduct their wedding is unique in the Northern part of Nigeria. According to Islam, men are permitted to marry up to four wives.
The Kanuri men have their first marriage at the age of twenty. The parents marry a young bride to him, often between the ages of ten and fourteen. The young men are advised to marry a young virgin the first time so they can grow old together.
However, marriage is expensive because of the high value placed on these young girls. But this is a costly form of marriage, and most men cannot afford it as a first marriage when they are usually in their late teens to mid-twenties.
The more common first marriage is to a divorcée, for whom the bride-wealth payments are much lower. The rate of divorce is extremely high. In case of divorce, children stay with the father. Marriage between cousins sometimes occurs, a form that also results in a reduced bride price.
By Islamic law and tenets, polygyny is permitted. Concubinage is also practised, although far less common than polygyny. Ideally, married Kanuri women are secluded.
This practice is rare in rural areas, where the economic role of women is vital, but it is relatively common in large cities such as Maiduguri. There are a few steps and processes that accompany Kanuri’s marriage. This procedure shall be the core of this discourse in subsequent paragraphs.
Ra’aski (Declaration of Interest)
Ra’aski, which means “Declaration of Interest”, is the initial process of a Kanuri marriage. At this stage, that gifts like clothes and cosmetics are sent through a delegation. The process is called ‘Gawo’, meaning formal presentation of the boy to the girl and leads to Kworo, where the official consent of the girl is sought.
A delegation of dignitaries comprising men and women visit the girl’s family, and they wait to receive the visitors. Kola nuts, sweets, etc., are presented by the boy’s family in return for items like clothes, cosmetics, money, etc.
Kworo means ‘to take’, and the girl’s acceptance or refusal is signalled through expressions of smiles, happiness, sadness or denial.
Sarte and Sadawu follow suit. Sarte, the fixing of a marriage date, is usually agreed upon after deliberations on and the agreement of the payment of Sadawu (dowry). To complete the process, dowry payment, a compulsory act, is the most important of all rites. Islamically and according to Kanuri tradition, without dowry, marriage is prohibited.
Bride Price (sigga)
Expected rites in Kanuri traditional marriages are very simple and in line with Islamic principles to express ‘love’ between the couple; respect for the ‘waliyyi’, the giver, who could be her father or guardian; observance of ‘sadau’, which is the dowry; ‘sigga’, the act of asking and acceptance between the family of the bride and groom; and their witnesses.
The minimum dowry in Kanuri marriage is a quarter of a dinar. When the groom’s family brings gifts to the intended bride, they also bring some items for the bride’s mother, aunts, uncles, and sisters.
Wedding Proceeding
The wedding usually begins on Thursday with the decoration of the bride and other females’ hands and legs with Lalle (Henna).
Sacks of henna leaves, soaps, kola nuts, chewing gum, candy, boxes of clothes, and incense, popularly called Turaren wuta and Humra, given to the bride’s aunties from her father’s side (bawaa). They exchange it with the groom’s family.
As prescribed in Islamic tenets, the Kanuri marriage ceremony observes the walimat (wuskru). When the marriage ceremony takes place on Saturday, dishes are prepared on Sunday and dignitaries, friends and well-wishers are invited to the bride and groom’s homes to dine.
In addition, there is traditional singing and dancing to entertain women who gather, sing and dance, but without mingling with men.
Following the conclusion of marriage, the new bride is restricted from staying indoors in the husband’s house for one year. She will never be seen publicly from the day her marriage is fixed.
Only her friends will be assessable to her for a whole year until the traditional marriage rites and ceremonies are concluded. She will not even visit her family members. It is only when she is transformed from childhood to womanhood that she goes to rejoice with her family and stays for one week.
This is called ‘fato kuru’. Her family will celebrate her one-year successful marriage if she is lucky with a pregnancy or baby.
Conclusion
Nowadays, the dynamics of urbanization, the expensive nature of the traditional rites and the influence of western education are significant factors contributing towards the non-observance of Kanuri traditional marriage.
In urban centres like Maiduguri, one can hardly distinguish between the western, Hausa and Kanuri cultures, which needs to be clarified.
Alien cultures have taken prominence over the Kanuri culture, which, if strictly observed, is a beautiful but, unfortunately, very costly culture, which is presumably why people are running away from it.
