Would You Let Your Aunt Sleep With Your Fiancé? Brides in This Uganda Tribe Do Not Have a Choice

We all know aunties are doting, caring, and often a large part of our life, but who would ever consider their aunt sleeping with their fiancé? Well, in the Banyankole tribe of Uganda, it is customary for the bride's aunt to sleep with the groom-to-be.

The Banyankole are one of Uganda's four major traditional kingdoms. It is located in southwest Uganda. Aunties in this tribe have a critical role in preparing their nieces to marry. In this tribe, the son's father was responsible for selecting a wife for his son as well as paying the dowry. Their dowry consisted of goats, cows, and several beer jars.  After the son's father selects a girl from a particular family, the aunt on the father's side of the family begins the inquiry. The aunt is charged with two key responsibilities. One to verify and confirm the groom's virility, and two to determine if her niece had kept her virginity. Virginity was highly revered in this community. As soon as they reached the age of eight, girls were placed separately in a chamber and taught the significance of remaining a virgin until marriage. At the same time, the girls were fed milk, millet porridge, and meat to help them gain weight. The Banyankole tribe associates fatness with attractiveness. To guarantee that the groom-to-be is potent, the aunt of the bride-to-be must sleep with him; she may also be obligated to listen or watch them have sex after they marry. Only once the aunt confirms the groom's potency and the bride's virginity may wedding preparations begin.

It is extremely important to remember that this custom has long since been discontinued among the Banyankole tribe; women and men can now meet, fall in love, and marry without interference. Virginity, on the other hand, is still a source of pride in most African cultures, but this information is now reserved exclusively for the groom, as opposed to the past, when it had to be made public.

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