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| Tiv women |
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INTRODUCTION
The TIV people lives on both sides of the Benue River in the middle belt region of Nigeria; they speak a language of the Benue-Congo branch of the Niger-Congo family.The Tiv are subsistence farmers whose main crops are yams, millet, and sorghum, all of which are eaten as porridge or are made more palatable by their combination in sauces and stews, the TIV people are also good hunters and they love eating most of their kills. Although goats and chickens are plentiful, few cattle are kept because of the tsetse fly.
The polygamous Tiv family occupies a cluster of round huts surrounding a reception hut; brothers usually live next to one another.
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| Tiv residential setting. |
The Tiv social organization is based on patrilineages that are closely associated with particular geographic features; in segmentary lineage systems such as the Tiv’s, a given lineage may be associated, more or less exactly, to a particular village, a group of lineages to a larger district, and so on. Genealogies go back many generations to a single ancestor; the descendants (through the male line) of each person in the genealogy thus form a territorial kinship group. The force of patrilineal descent, while dominant in Tiv institutions, is balanced by institutions such as age grades (groups of men of about the same age who provide mutual assistance and allies against lineage pressure), cooperative groups, and institutionalized friendships. Although traditionally the Tiv had no chiefs (political decisions were made by lineage elders), the British administration established a paramount chief in 1948.
The Tiv’s complex system of exchange marriage was outlawed in 1927 and was replaced by marriage with bride wealth.
Some Tivs have converted to Christianity, and a lesser number have adopted Islam; but their traditional religion, based on the manipulation of forces (akombo) entrusted to humans by a creator god, remains strong. The akombo are manifested in certain symbols or emblems and in diseases that they create. An organization of elders who have the ability to manipulate these forces meets at night to repair those manifestations of akombo (e.g., epidemics) that affect the group; these phenomena require human sacrifice or its metaphorical equivalent. The Tiv numbered about 2,500,000 in the late 20th century.
The Tiv people have
specific marriage rites that seem to be one of the most interesting
things to foreigners and strangers. It’s curious and notable that all
these rites are still alive and used by Tiv people who want to get
married. Read more: https://www.legit.ng/1199698-tiv-culture-nigeria.html
The Tiv people have
specific marriage rites that seem to be one of the most interesting
things to foreigners and strangers. It’s curious and notable that all
these rites are still alive and used by Tiv people who want to get
married. Read more: https://www.legit.ng/1199698-tiv-culture-nigeria.html
The Tiv people have
specific marriage rites that seem to be one of the most interesting
things to foreigners and strangers. It’s curious and notable that all
these rites are still alive and used by Tiv people who want to get
married. Read more: https://www.legit.ng/1199698-tiv-culture-nigeria.html
TIV MARRIAGES
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| Tiv wedding |
The Tiv people have specific marriage rites that seem to be one of the most interesting things to foreigners and strangers. It is curious and notable that all these rites are still alive and used by the Tiv people who want to get married. There are four methods of getting oneself a wife and here they are.
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Getting married by exchange
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| Tiv bride and groom |
This means exactly what this means. Two men who want to have a wife meet and agree to exchange the women they already have. These may be each other’s daughters or each other’s current wives. This way of getting married is called yamshe. Of course, the deal will be sealed only if both of them have women suitable for the exchange.
Getting married by capture
This way of getting married is called kwase-ngohol. It means capturing another man’s wife while her husband is away. This is one of the most traditional ways of getting oneself a wife dating back to the times when the tribe was migrating all the time. Actually, this habit of stealing other men’s wives caused a range of wars and confrontations within the ethnic group. However, there’s another way of "capturing wives". This is a far nobler way that’s respected a lot, unlike the described above. A man needs to go to another country and take his friends with him. The entire group chooses communities where they are going to look for single unmarried women. Then, they go to those communities and start to perform traditional dances in the eyes of the chosen women. The women are naturally attracted to the skilled dancers and go out to watch them. Such a way of capturing women’s hearts is called lye. As a rule, the chosen women agree to go with the dancers and become their wives. This is a romantic and sweet way and many women love it sincerely.Getting married by purchase
Everything you need to do is capture a girl as a slave and get married to her. That’s it, nothing complicated as it looks. However, this is the way that’s not as popular as it used to be hundreds of years ago. Today, the Tiv use more civilized ways of getting married.READ ALSO - THE FULANI TRIBE AND PEOPLE
Getting married by paying a bride price
First, a man needs to send plenty of gifts to the family of the bride. The gifts are being sent until the family says that they are finally satisfied. When they are, the groom can finally get down to paying the bride’s own price. This is the prevailing way of getting married in the modern Tiv lands. However, in most cases, young people don’t start with paying the bride price off. Now, it’s allowed that they stayed together as a couple for a while and then decided to pay the bride price or not.TIV CULTURAL DANCE AND SONG
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| Tiv cat dance |
In the Tiv culture, music and dancing are a certain specific form of communication. They have a range of unique musical instruments, which they skillfully play, and a number of lovely dances, which they perform for different occasions. There are dances that attract sweethearts, there are ancient ritual dances, and modern ones that are performed at diverse festive occasions. Songs are still an effective means of communication between people and between people and the nature. The Tiv still believe in rainmakers and their powers, in the strength of herbalists and wizards of all types. All this influences their life greatly and implies the appearance of new habits and customs, new songs and dances.
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| Tiv traditional dancers from Benue state middle belt of Nigeria |
The dances and songs are closely connected to the beliefs of the Tiv tribe. In spite of the fact that their ancestors have been Christianized successfully and that a part of the people accepted Islam, they do believe in the human ability to manipulate natural forces. If something happens like an epidemic disease, the ones who can rule these powers go outside at night and perform ancient rituals to repair the damage.
Source- Encyclopedia Britanica and Naij.
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