Traditional wedding practices are unique to the Mareko tribe. Women marry between the ages of 15 and 17, while men marry between the ages of 16 and 20. There are eight different forms of weddings in this tribe. Tewaja denotes a planned wedding, Alulima denotes an unplanned wedding, and Shokokanecho denotes a guy going to the bride’s house with his buddies and forcing her to marry him. Gusno is a kidnapping-based wedding, whereas Herima is a mind game in which a third-party mediator tells the woman positive things about the man until she accepts to the wedding. When a bride goes to the house of the guy she wants to marry and tells his family that she loves him, the groom’s family accepts her and the wedding takes place.
When a man’s wife dies, if he is deemed to be a nice person, he will be given his wife’s sister, who will make him forget about his wife and look after him and his children. Tewaja, or arranged wedding, is tied to the religious ceremony of this tribe, according to written materials discovered in this tribe. To begin, the groom instructs his buddies to inform his family of the girl he wishes to marry. If his family approves, he begins the planning process. His buddies will go to the bride’s residence early in the morning, draw their swords, and force entry, staying there for a while, then leaving without saying anything.
