Traditional Wedding in Guinea-Bissau

Traditional marriage in Guinea-Bissau symbolizes the birth of a new family, and is one of the most important rituals in Guinea-Bissau society.

To get married, the bride needs to go through several steps, fulfilling certain rituals that transform her from the stage of a girl to that of a woman.

 

The Engagement : “Leba Kabas”

 

The relatives of the fiancé take to the bride’s house a large calabash containing rice, alcoholic drinks and loom cloth, “pano di pinti” and objects that recall common life.

If both parties agree, this calabash will represent the beginning of the union of two people and two families. It represents the establishment of a new family in the community. This ceremony is known as ‘Leba Kabas’.

 

“Sara Noiba” Ceremony

 

After the engagement, the ceremony of ‘Sara'[isolating the newlywed] takes place.The bride is isolated for some time to give her a certain education about marriage.

For a week, the bride is attended only by a few elderly women. She is washed and undergoes a ritual that transfers her from the stage of a girl to that of a woman.

She benefits from the advice of these women: how she should behave with her husband, what she could do and what she could not do.

At the end of this ritual, she and her fiancé eat the sacred food in a calabash called “Cubamba”, after which they are given water in another calabash to wash their hands.

This bride’s dish is composed of soft rice with palm oil and sour milk.

The mother’s friends gather to sing to the new bride, to the sound of ‘Tina’.