The Sunday News
Witness Dingani
QUESTION
“Marriage in the African Traditional Religion is a communal rather than individual affair.” Examine the validity of this claim. (25)
AFRICAN Traditional Religion has been defined by J O Awolalu as the indigenous beliefs and practices of the Africans. In the African Traditional Religion there is an idea of marriage. Marriage can be defined as a union of two or more people of the opposite sex. It is believed that marriage in African Traditional Religion is a communal rather than an individual affair, this is because the role of relations created affect the whole family and not individuals.
However, it can be also argued that marriage in African Traditional Religion is an individual affair taking into consideration the definition of marriage itself. The following essay seeks to discuss the validity of the claim that marriage in African Traditional Religion is a communal rather than an individual affair.
It is prudent to note that there are many forms of marriages, such as monogamy, polygamy, polyamory, levirate and sororate marriages. Polygamy is when one man can have more than one spouse or wife. Polyamory is a type of marriage where the man and the woman have more than one partner.
According to Chakabva and Dingani in their book entitled Understanding Family and Religious Studies 2017 page 106, they stated that polyamory type of marriage is where spouses are chosen by someone else, such as the parents, friends and religious leaders. The levirate is a form of marriage where the brother of the deceased man is obliged to marry his brother’s widow whereas the sorotate marriage involves the husband engaging in a sexual relationship with sisters of his wife after the wife is dead or has been proven infertile.
According to Bourdillion (1987), people marry into families and thus, marriage becomes a family affair and not an affair of two individuals. There are several reasons why marriage is considered a family contract and not a contract between two people in the Indigenous religion, especially in Shona religion.
According to Chakabva and Dingani Understanding Family and Religious Studies Vol 1 2017: “If a son in law or mukuwasha marries, he becomes a mukuwasha for the family and not for one person, the same is true of the tezvara and muroora. The nature of relations that are created are created for the family and not for the individuals alone.” Therefore, this indicates marriage in the African Traditional Religion is a communal rather than individual affair.
The girl eloping in the Shona religion is organised by relatives especially in the kutiza mukumbo type of marriage which is organised by the relatives of the boy. This has been further explained by P. Chakabva and W. Dingani in the book entitled Understanding Family and Religious Studies page 108, as they submitted that “She elopes at night and goes to her husband’s home. Elders at the husband’s home will then send a munyayi who will alert the parents and relatives of the girl.”
The role is played by members of the community, hence, this indicates that marriage in African Traditional Religion is a communal rather than an individual affair. The community play a pivotal role during the pre-marital and post-marital rites. In the Shona and Ndebele religions, there are rites where girls will be educated by the aunt in marital affairs.
They are given preparation lessons in matters of sex, marriage, procreation and family life. In matters of sex, there are many lessons for girls, this includes being taught that the primary duty of marriage is procreation and sexual gratification of the husband.
Boys are also taught how to behave properly towards their in-laws, how to acquire wealth which one would give to the parents of the girl as part of bride price or roora and they are also taught how to look after cattle. This has been further supported by J Mbiti (1991), who submitted that boys are taught what mostly concerns men. All this will lead one to suggest that marriage in African traditional religion is a communal affair.There are post-marital rites that are organised by community members. One of the notable marital rite is masungiro and kutara. The masungiro rite is done for the pregnancy of the newly married woman. The rite is symbolic and ritualistic. The parents of the girl stay with her until she delivers. At the same time the ritual kutara mwana is carried out.
This is when the aunts or parents of the husband go to their in-laws and they will be carrying things such as white clothes, African baskets and food. There are other rituals which follow, these include naming rites. These rituals are performed as a way of confirming that the newly born baby belongs to their family.
Therefore, this indicates that marriage in African Traditional Religion is a communal affair as evidenced by the role of the community in both pre-marital and post-marital rites. The community plays a pivotal role in the divorce procedure in African Traditional Religion. There are a number of causes of divorce in African Traditional Religion.
These causes of divorce include unfaithfulness, this has led some scholars to conclude that unfaithfulness is the only real cause of divorce in African traditional Religion. The elders are mostly responsible in trying to solve the disputes in marriages and it is also submitted that the chief is usually the last solution in the divorce procedure if the village head does not manage to resolve the issue.
One should note that there is a token of divorce which is arranged by the parents or relatives which is given to the partner being divorced. The token in Shona religion is called shereni/ gupuro. All this indicates that marriage in African Traditional Religion is a communal affair.
In as much as it can be argued that marriage in African Traditional Religion is a communal affair, it will be unjust if one ignores the view that marriage is also an individual affair. Considering the definition of the term marriage which says marriage is a union of two or more people of the opposite sex, thus one is forced to suggest that marriage is an individual rather communal affair.
The major reason for marriage in African Traditional Religion is for reproduction and sexual regulation. It is believed in the African society that partners marry each other for reproduction, so that the family grows bigger and the same children assist the parents in farming and domestic chores such as washing plates, cooking and fetching firewood.
It should be noted that marriage is for sexual regulation considering the rituals that are performed before the marriage. During the pre-marital rites girls are taught on sexual matters, this has been further supported by Chakabva and Dingani on their work concerning pre-marital rites in Indigenous religion as they stated that “girls with aunts are taught how to respond to sex with the husband.”
Therefore, this indicates that marriage in African Traditional Religion is also an individual affair.
Basing on the above discussion, it is clear that marriage in African Traditional Religion is both a communal affair and individual affair.
Communal in the sense that marriage relations that are created affect the whole family and not only individuals. It is also an individual affair considering the individual benefits, for instance sexual activities and reproduction. Therefore, the claim which says marriage is a communal affair rather than individual affair is less valid.
-Witness Dingani is a Zimbabwe-based author, motivational speaker, columnist, youth coach, publisher, radio host, cricketer, member of Chain Support Foundation Counselling Company. He is the founder of charity organisation “Dingani Charity Organisation”.
