RURACIO (KIKUYU DOWRY CEREMONY)

My Cousin is a soon-to-be-wife!!!!

Hi Loves, I am beyond ecstatic with happiness. Yiiippiiii, my 1st Cousin Shikoh is now officially taken! So a recap of what went down on Saturday the 29th of April.........

I am a proud Kikuyu lady, and in our culture, certain celebratory customs are a must to follow. We have certain stages that are followed during a traditional marriage but some families are not strict in following up stage by stage. I will mention but a few stages that comes before Ruracio...

• Kuhanda Ithigi "Planting Twigs" ( Stating Intentions)
• Kumenya Mucii "Knowing the Home" (Parents Meet)
• Ruracio "Dowry Negotiations and Payment"
• During the Ruracio, before the groom and his family are allowed in the house, women from both sides sing at the entrance of the home.

 The vocal tussle starts off with different songs but end up in sync. At that time, the bride is in the house far from the guests till the MC calls her.

Eating starts then introduction of the hosts comes later.

The guys side is introduced and in the situation where Ruracio is combined with Kuhanda Ithigi,  the groom states his intentions as to why he is interested with that homestead.

The bride is then covered in shukas together with a a few other ladies and are brought forward so that the groom gets to identify his soon-to-be-wife. (Very interesting but hard task). 

Trying to cover Shikoh with shukas

Once the girl is selected, they retreat to a room and proceed with the negotiations and payments, all done behind closed doors.

 During this time, music is played and people get to dance to it. The girl is then called upon and asked to give her blessings for the discussions to take place.

According to Kikuyu Cultures, all girls are estimated to be 99 goats, rounded off to 100 goats. The groom can be allowed to pay for some items using the monetary equivalence. 

Once the negotiations are done, ululations are heard and some Muratina is shared as people dance.

Shikoh's gown was to die for. She had an orange-white-gold theme and for those who could not keep up with the theme (like me for personal reasons hihihi), one could go for african prints.

 Enjoy some of the pics of the big day.

Her gown and my African Print Coat is from our tailor called Charles located at Revlon Plaza
My Shoes bought from a boutique in Jamia Mall
My african swing top bought from @nessa.fashions
High waist pants from @labelle_fashions

Goddy's parents

Goddy trying to show he got his groove on!!

He had to see if among the ladies lies his wife.

Trying to figure out the tactic to be used on finding his wife.

The crowd warning him not to choose the one he was about to pick.

No 3 boss! A little leakage would come in handy.

There she is!!

I finally found you

'I FINALLY FOUND THE ONE TO WHOM I BELONG '....By Shiku & Goddy.

Photography by Infinity Clix

Make up by me hihihi

Thanks again loves for stopping by. 

XOXO