The Bride Carrying
Ceremony and White Wedding Gowns
The bride carrying
custom that began in West Africa has its origin from a famous epic.In
Sunjata: A West African Epic of the Mande Peoples is the scene of
Sogolon who was getting married and she could not walk. She had a
twisted feet and was not able to walk on her own. The very first
bride-escorting song of Manden was sung that day. According to
Sunjata the sisters sang:”Walk well/Bride of my brother,/Walk
well./Do not put us in the dust.”(1536). The co-brides carried
Sogolon to her husband Maghan Konfara's house. This became the bride
carrying tradition and the song sung when a bride is getting married.
The bride carrying and the song sung by the co-brides show that
getting married is a very social custom between family members and
the community.
In America it is
traditional for a bride to wear white. While learning about a bride
from West Africa, visions of colorful clothing come to mind. In China
red symbolizes good luck and the bride wears a red bridal gown.
Random History and Word Origins for the curious minds includes the
article “Here Comes the Bride:A History of the American Wedding”.
The article explains how the custom of wearing a white wedding gown
became popular. According to Random History and Word Origins:
| The nineteenth century bride’s desire for a white wedding dress increased rapidly in 1840, when the newly crowned Queen Victoria of Great Britain wed Prince Albert (Wallace 2004). the monarch before her, Victoria chose to be married in a splendid, white satin gown. In reaction, young women in England and America, enamored of the newly married queen’s style, immediately began clamoring for white wedding dresses of their own” (Random History and Word Origins). |
Works Cited
Sunjata: A West African Epic of the Mande Peoples. The Norton Anthology of World Literature: Shorter Third Edition, Two- Volume Set. W.W. Norton. Ed. M Puchner. 2012. 1514-1576. Print.
| Wallace, Carol McD. 2004. All Dressed in White: The Irresistible Rise of the American Wedding. Penguin Books Print. |
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