Marriage In The Tiv Culture

sororate, the Nuer do have this option, but only if the dead wife did not have a child (Stone, 77; 2014). In regards to marriage, the Tiv culture allows both men and women to get married. The Tiv culture has no law that restrain anyone from getting married earlier than 25 to 30 years of age. The Tiv are polygynous, thereby allowing men to have multiple wives (Hsu, 47; 1971). While having multiple wives may be rather difficult for a man due the struggle of maintaing equality between the women, most Tiv men desire polygyny. This is similar to the Bedouins who are able to have multiple wives as well (Abu-Laghod, 121; 2009). In Writing Women’s Worlds we see this struggle of maintaing equality through the marriage of Gateefa, Safiyya and Azza,
The bride’s arrival is typically indicated by a set of rituals or festivities. The marriage celebration consists of the bride being escorted to her husband’s compound. The bride is usually “greeted by dancing and singing” (Bohannan & Bohannan, 73; 1953). Having sexual relations with an individual whom one has common grandparents with is considered to be incest in the Tiv culture. Elopement or ii kwase as the Tiv call it, is defined as “stealing a wife.” Elopement is rather common in the Tiv culture, as well, for the guardian or parents of the girl come to the husbands compound, “or, especially if its the man’s first wife, his father gores to her compound and steps are taken to regularize the marriage by agreement to pay bride-wealth” (Bohannan & Bohannan 72; 1953). Stealing a wife provides great prestige to a
The Nuer, similar to the Tiv people, also practice bride-wealth (Stone, 77; 2014). Cattle is a rather important form of bride-wealth in the Nuer culture, in which it is given by the groom’s lineage to the bride’s lineage. When the cattle is exchanged, it ensures that the children of the Nuer couple will be regarded as belonging to the husband’s lineage. When bride-wealth is payed in the Tiv culture, a low payment, often one or two pound, gifts, and a goat, are sufficient enough to allow the bride to be taken by the husband (Bohannan & Bohannan, 72; 1953). The Tiv people, however, are generally not willing to give money, unless they know for certain that the bride will stay. When bride-wealth is payed, a witness must be present in order to validate the marriage through the giving of gifts to both the mother and father in law in order for the bride to be taken to the home of the husband (Fardon, 8; 1984). As such, marriage does not take place legally, unless bride-wealth is