Marriage

In Mali, wedding is an important part, it involves various important customs and celebrations spread out over a number of days. Usually, the groom and the bride do not personally know the attendees that come to the wedding festivity, because Malian families tend to be very big due to polygamy. Thus weddings are a perfect occasion for all the extended family members of the couple to come for the big day. Before the actual wedding takes place there is a pre-wedding henna ceremony only for women. Where local henna designers apply henna for the bride, and the other women present at the ceremony.

In Mali, religious marriage is considered as the most important form since about 90 percent of Malians are Muslim. This form of marriage is usually taking place in a mosque. In Islam weddings, both the groom and bride have to give their consent to get wedded to each other willingly. Before the wedding ceremony, cola nuts are distributed amongst the women's families to symbolize the engagement of the couple and to inform her family members of the initial engagement. During this ceremony, both the men and women remain separate from each other, while an imam officiates the marriage.