Collection · 3 entries in this preview
Before, during, and after marriage
Clan exogamy, preferred and discouraged unions, and how a new household is seated among the Aawambo.
Doorways summarised from Professor Petrus Angula Mbenzi’s Pre-marriage, marriage and post-marriage customs and rules.
One does not marry one’s clan
Aawambo are generally exogamous. A person of the Aakwanambwa clan does not marry another of that clan, even across ethnic lines. Clan membership makes you kin.
Preferred and discouraged partners
The record distinguishes unions that strengthen the system from unions that disorder it. Cross-cousin paths differ by subtribe: some favoured them to keep cattle from going away; Aakwanyama have been wary of cross-cousin marriage on the mother’s side.
Marriage, old and new together
The ritual record treats a modern-and-traditional wedding as its own ceremony, with banns read in church and flags hoisted at the bride’s home. The marriage paper notes clan emblems on t-shirts and headdresses at today’s weddings.