6 Weird and Bizarre African Tradition

Kidnap and Marry

Latwoka , a tribe in Sudan has a very weird marriage tradition.If a guy wants to marry a girl,he kidnaps her. After kidnapping elderly people of his family go to girl’s father and ask for her hand. If girl’s father agrees he beats the guy as a symbol of acceptance and if he doesn’t agree, the kidnapper marries the girl forcefully.

Now all the girls should thank God, they are not born in Latwoka.

Sharo Tradition

To me Sharo is one of the craziest and most inhuman tradition you can ever have.Some people in Mali,Nigeria and Cameroon practice this tradition by publicly beating a boy, who has come of age and wants to take a wife.Guy is beaten by a challenger and he has to suppress the signs of pain. If he is able to take the beating successfully he is declared a real man and if he fails , he simply can not take a wife. Many people lose their lives while proving their manhood.

Chewa Culture

There is another very disturbing ritual in Africa popular in Chewa people. When somebody belonging to Chewa culture dies, his relatives take the dead body to a sacred place, take a knife ,slit the throat open. They then pour water through to clean the bowels of all filth by squeezing the stomach to let it all out through the rear, stopping only when the water is clean.

Now the worst part is that they use this water to cook the food for rest of the people :) .

Circumcision

Many tribes in Africa still follow this scary tradition. For men circumcision is partial or complete removal of foreskin around the genitals and for women it is removal of genitals :( This is meant to preserve the chastity of women).

Khweta Ceremony

This is another tradition involving boys to prove their manhood and if they are ready to take a wife.During the ceremony, boys are made to stay in circumcision lodges during winter where they undergo rigorous and often fatal tests such as continuous dancing and other exhaustive activities that often lead to death.

Lobola Tradition

Another tradition related to marriage is Lobola.Families of bride and groom will be punished if they didn’t agree to this tradition. Lobola involves negotiation of price that groom will pay to marry the girl.

The Lobola process is often complicated and has certain protocols that have to be adhered to. For example, although the two families concerned might have lived next to each other for years, all negotiation between the parents must be conducted in writing and not by telephone or by a quick visit. The reason for this seemingly absurd rule is that although the families might have known each other for years, they do not know each other on the level of the Lobola exchange. In other words, they do not know each other at the the level of the seriousness and sanctity of marriage.

Source: blindloop