VIRGINITY IN YORUBA LAND

In Yoruba Land, marriage is one unique culture that anyone would want to witness. Yoruba tribe respects this holy union and they referred to it as sacred. Both intending husband and wife are expected to meet certain requirements before their unions can be called Legal. Today, we would talk about one of the expected prerequisites of every prospective bride – Virginity.

The term “Virginity” which is directly translated to Ibale in Yoruba Language (Pronounced "He Bar Ley") and it is the state of a person who has never engaged in any sexual intercourse. In the days of our fore fathers, the sacred powers the virginity wields can not be under-emphasized. For instance, the myth around virginity was able to reduce divorce issues to the barest minimum as opposed to what is obtainable in today’s world.

In the olden days, when a marriage proposal is made by man to a lady, both families will go and make proper findings about one another. If all things being equal, both bride & groom will wed. In the night of their wedding, the couple is expected to have a sexual intercourse, and groom must feed his family back about the virginity status of his new wife. If the wife had already been deflowered before the night of their wedding, this will prompt the groom family to send an Aroko to the bride’s family and they will declare such matrimony illegal. 

Any lady that has lost her virginity outside the wedlock has brought a great shame to the entire family at large, because the groom’s family will see it as lack of proper upbringing, waywardness, immoralities amongst others. Hence, such matrimony may be referred to as unclean. Let’s check out some of the numerous advantages of meeting one’s wife a virgin:

(A) A PRESTIGE FOR THE BRIDE’S FAMILY
There is no parent that won’t be happy when their daughters do things right. The bride family will be free to walk nooks and crannies of the village and towns without any shame whatsoever.

(B) PRIDE FOR THE BRIDE
The bride will be pampered to the fullest by the groom’s family. Different honour and accolades would be accorded her as well.

(C) A VALID POINT TO REMIND AN ERRING HUSBAND
This is one of the reasons why divorce was reduced in the olden days. Whenever the husband is misbehaving or maltreating the bride, the concerned party can call attention of the husband, and caution him accordingly.

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