Celebrating A Pending Wedding in Mali

By Hindaty Traore, Girls Project Coordinator

The Mali staff were on vacation for most of August. As a result, many of them are sharing fun stories from their time off in their new blog posts.

I would like to share today one of my holiday activities which is my sister's wedding. During these three weeks, I attended a lot of weddings, as the song of Amadou and Mariam says "Sundays in Bamako are the wedding day".

Weddings are usually held on Thursdays and Sundays. Each ethnic group has its own way of celebrating marriage. With the Soninkés, as I am, we make "Guita fô" (Guita is a calabash [large squash or gourd] with cowries on the outside) a week before the wedding. Every afternoon, the young girls take a calabash and with other women make great noise with the cowrie calabashes. We sing counseling songs for the new bride to take good care of her husband and in-laws or even tease the husband. It is a moment of joy before marriage.

Some women have fancy braided hair, while others put henna on their feet and hands. On the wedding day, the girls who have made the "Guita Fô" take the bride hostage until the groom's family gives them money. It is something fun and festive before the wedding.