The issue of kneeling down to greet as in in Yoruba culture is giving some Igbo ladies serious concern. They are wondering how they can show utmost respect to their in-laws and husband without kneeling since it is not part of their culture.
Listen singles, contrary to what you may want to hear, you are not only marrying your partner, you are marrying their culture as well!
A woman must honour her husband as the head, submit to his leadership in humility and adapt with love.
One sure sign of maturity and readiness for marriage is the ability to adapt to your partner. Stubbornness, aloofness, pride, arrogance and unteachability are signs of immaturity.
Unless you don’t want to have anything to do with your in-laws, your husband’s friends and his culture, you can stick to your way of doing things, if not, you must learn how to do things in a Yoruba way…
If your husband understands you and is ready to protect you before his people, fine, blessed are you. You have no problem! But if you are marrying a mummy and daddy’s boy, you are in soup!
The man must also adapt to his wife’s culture. It will help him understand why she does or doesn’t do certain things.
Where there is genuine love, adapting to one another is not a problem at all. It will rather give you pleasure. This applies to other tribes and culture as well.
As long as you are not asked to do anything sinful or idolatry, adapting to your partner shouldn’t be a problem.
Even People from same tribe or culture still have certain differences that need to be ironed out with love and understanding.
We should all love one another and learn to adapt to one another irrespective of tribes and nationality whether we are married to them or not.
I once had a friend who is Igbo. I admired and respected him a lot. I love his family and love their language. Because they are good people and the first I would have a close relationship with, I developed a strong love for the Igbo language. I literally asked his sweet, loving, elder sister to teach me some words on Igbo. She taught me “Ahuru m gi n’ anya.” I eventually got to know it means “I love you”. In later years, I added more Igbo vocabularies and wrote a novel whose background is basically Igbo. I expect to be given an award for that Novel ššš.
I’ve had friends from other cultures and I sincerely love them all. I am open and willing to learn from there good qualities and differences.
Love is the watch word.
Ensure God is leading you to marry them though.
Where God is involved and you have genuine love for them, your marriage will sail smoothly.
I so much love the Igbos I thought I would end up marrying one of them but that is not God’s will for me. Some even think I am Igbo.
Sometimes, some Igbos speak to me in their language and when I look blank they ask which state I am from.
One woman jokingly called me “half caste.” ššš. Abi, when a Yoruba look like an Igbo, what do you call her?
Whether Hausa, Edo, Benin, Ogun, Ekiti, Zimbabwe, Ghana, Liberia, Jamaica South Africa, America or United Kingdom, let’s show one another love, respect and understanding.
This world will become a better place to live and bitterness, strife, war and hatred will slowly fade away.
Be blessed in Jesus’ name!
Ā© Seun Oladele
Peoplesmind