Noubi’s Wedding Ceremony

Ahmed Abderrahime - EGYPT

The researcher considers these ceremonies as an important element among the wedding habits elements, not only in Nubi, but everywhere and in any time the wedding happens. The researcher chooses this element among other elements for what he touched by himself in the new Nuba and with Cairo Nubi. Wedding ceremonies have forthcoming phases that end up in the ultimate phase, namely the meeting of the groom and the bride, hence the beginning of conjugal life. The phase of accepting the groom starts, and the groom presents a part of an agreed for money and clothes to the bride’s relatives as a declaration of marriage. Wedding ceremony starts the first morning declared for marriage by groom’s relatives and moving to the bride’s father house in the sunset where the ceremony comes to an end at the bride’ relatives. The researcher highlights the wedding ceremony in old Nuba, where ceremony of the henna night takes place by a particular tradition where some old ladies, like grandmother or aunt, bring a bowl consisting of water and henna. The lady puts the mixture in the whole groom’s body, who wears only an old jellaba so as to facilitate the process and not to polish a new one. During the henna, the groom’s friends laugh as a sign of optimism to become like him, but after putting henna in their bodies and hands too. Afterwards, the pointing (nuquuT) process begins, and means that the groom sits down; a bowl of henna in front of him, on his right stands one of his friends who will accompany him during the happiness days carrying a whip in his hand, and on his left another friend carrying a sward. The 2 friends are the groom’s bodyguards, who protect him from envy and evil spirits, or are ministers and the groom is the sultan. Besides the groom, sit 2 men, one of them writes in a bloc note all the stuffs dedicated to him and the dedicator name, the other shouts by saying “shubsh”..shubsh this man, son of … dedicates…