Traditional Vs Church Wedding in Nigeria: A Call for a Resolution

Abstract

Africa continues its struggles for identity, for a dignifying peculiarity. The struggles are evident in the political protests, social revolutions, economic tensions, and even cultural transformations across the continent. In the religious parlance, this struggle is tense and controversial. Since the re-emergence of interests and promotion for indigenous spiritualities, Christianity, for one, is being confronted over its place in Africa, over its relevance and contribution to the present state of Africa. A quintessence of this struggle is on the issue of weddings and marriage. There is the traditionalist viewpoint that considers it an ignominy that weddings in Africa have to be done in a church and blessed by a priest for it to be valid and licit. They argue that a church wedding, cynically described as a ‘white wedding’, is another invasion of the Western culture, instrumentalized by the church to the detriment of African identity. If the parents, elders, and communities of the couples have performed the traditional rites of marriage, it should be as valuable as or even more valuable than the church wedding. They want church weddings devalued and rejected. It is either a traditional or church wedding. This thought-line seems acceptable to an increasing number of young people. It appeals to their sense of identity as Africans. Also, it reveals the growing disinterest in Western-orientated Christianity. The church has, on her part, not been effective in communicating her standpoint and in structurally implementing it towards resolving the tension. This article tries to articulate and expose some aspects of this problem. It proffered solutions, urging the church to implement some principles of complementarity, and calling the Catholic Bishops for a resolution on a new rite of marriage. This research is situated mainly within the Igbo region and the Catholic Church in Nigeria.