.....yaaani had to bring in politics on this culture thread....hiyo wacha

Na roto tank ..is one supposed to carry this ama pia ni pesa

@Lolest,

You belong to the group that believes bride price is for buying the girl? ....wacha wewe!!...Unatak kuwa mtwanga free ....Anyway,it's a symbol of bonding the two families.that much we have been told.

A camel will do....it also stores water

if negotiations had been done and an agreement reached then tradition dictates that 40 goats be delivered to the compound, it didn't matter back then and it should not matter now how far the in-laws came from they had and should deliver the same, if traditions are to be followed.

imagine if wazees back then asked for 40 goats -then you brought some thousands of cowrie shells.

WHERE ARE THE OTHER TRIBES.

What do u ask for and what do they mean?

I wonder why then we call it 'kugurana'(kununuana) and why a lot of bargaining is involved plus the many trips the bride's side force the groom's side to make.

I wonder why some women have already pegged a price on themselves-like that woman who wanted 1m for her bride price. There are lots of other things too, like why bad blood develops between families and individuals after the negotiations.

If it's just for bonding, fine. But I thought the main reason was based on the traditional economy. Land was tilled by family members thus losing a family member to another family had to be compensaated. In those days the woman would move to the man's family and become one of them tilling their land and other duties.

Today, the young man lives in umoja, he plans to buy a hse in he metropolis or buy a kaplot in Syokimau away from the flight path. There is no major economic advantage to his family when he marries this girl. Infact, the wife's parents may benefit more from the marriage than the husband's!

@Lolest,

A woman slapping a price on herself???....I would run to the edge of the world.In a very fair scenario,the lady is always on the man's side and she will have leaked what they should expect during negotiations.....If i were the bridegroom's negotiator in this case,my counter offer would be a single damn tick (kupe).

Noooo @guka. You should know that this's practiced in other cultures!

In Islam, the word gift is ususally used. Young women are encouraged to have a realistic expectation of what should be paid: an equitable amount that makes the woman feel secure. That's something to strengthen the bond of friendship between two people and family.

It is the man who pays the dowry to the woman, unless the woman chooses not to take it. They can even choose to share some of it with the man!
For example she can ask for somehting you'll both use in your new home

The Prophet said, "the most blessed marriage is one in which the marriage partners place the least burden on each other."

Marriage should not be used as a ticket to "get rich quick".

Some parents request very high dowry. DOn't they see that this practice leads to many young men to forsaking marriage, or postpone or fall into come-we-stay?
as a result, a large number of young women not finding husbands!

If we say goats should be literal, then 'kúhanda gíthígì' should be literal too.

What I've witnessed is a mixture of the two where you take some 'mbúri meeee' meaning real goats and cash counted per the remaining goats requested.