Fulani Wedding

My Fulfulde language teacher Guida took me to his uncle's camp to see a Fulani wedding. What a gorgeous culture. The Fulani are the migrant herders who travel on foot throughout West Africa. They settle into little camps along the way. The Fulani occupy the bottom rung of the socio-political ladder, but ironically they tend to be wealthier because the cattle market earns far more income than their cotton-farming counterparts. They live a modest lifestyle, with clean villages, gorgeous clothing, and eleborate make-up and jewelry. I've no doubt the original punk fashion movement began in a Fulani village.

A young girl waits for her bride-to-be sister to come out of her hut.

The mother escorts the bride (in white) and her younger sister out of their family hut.

The father transports his daughter to the neighboring village where a new hut awaits the couple. The bride will reside in this hut for seven days with her mother and sisters. At the end of the week, her new husband will return from the bush where he's been tending cattle, and move into the hut as a married man.

A sister carries the dowry, an offering of calabash bowls from one village to the other.

Yam Pilee. Boiled Yams get mushed in this pot, to be eaten by hand with spicey sauce. Really tasty.

can't match the Fulani fashion instinct.

yes friends, "ai lov you"

This is in the Bariba village of Bani, 7k outside Goumori.

"bring out the boombox... he's gonna take our picture!"