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4. Marriage and Widowhood Rites in Bali Nyonga
- LANGAA RPCIG
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59 Chapter Four Marriage and Widowhood Rites in Bali Nyonga Elias M. Nwana & Vincent L. Nwana Introduction & Background This chapter is primarily a narrative of two important rites of passage that affect a majority of the womenfolk in Bali-Nyonga, namely, marriage & widowhood. The discourse presented in this chapter is underpinned by the geographical, historical and migratory context of the people of Bali Nyonga as outlined in the introduction of this book. In an age in which traditions are fast being diluted by the everincreasing force of globalisation, the primary aim of this paper is to document the rites associated to marriage and widowhood as received mainly from oral literature for posterity. Whilst we do not comprehensively explore the impact of history, geography and ethnicity on marriage and widowhood rites, we nevertheless posit several factors which have undoubtedly contributed to their conception and adjustments through the generations. The secondary aim therefore of this paper is to provide foundation material in the hope that it triggers further research into the impact of these factors on the institution of marriage and some of the anthropological and socio-economic questions related to marriage and widowhood rites are posed towards the end of the respective sections. Background & Historical Context Bali Nyonga is a conglomeration of several ethnic groups which include, inter alia, Sang, Ti, Won, Ngod, Ngiam, Tikali, Peli, Yani & Leng, Kwen, Keyang, Mbeluh and Mbufong. Whilst these groups come from various historical origins, they are now so firmly integrated within the Bali Nyonga umbrella that they see themselves as a single ethnic group loyal to the institutions of a single unified chieftaincy and speak the common language, Mungaka. There are other ethnic groups in Bali sub-division that are not loyal to the Bali chiefdom and its institutions. The most notable of these are the 60 Bawock people and the Bossah people. There is also a small group of semi-normadic Mbororo cattle herders who are settled in the subdivision . According to statistics from the official Cameroon Census in published in 2006, the combined population of these three ethnic groups represents about 1% of the total population20 of Bali sub division. Bali sub division is bordered by several smaller villages such as Batibo, Nsongwa, Chomba, Ngembu, as well as a very cosmopolitan urban town called Bamenda. Bamenda is the administrative capital of the North West Province of Cameroon which offers more job opportunities than its surrounding villages. As such it has attracted several individuals and groups of people from different parts of the country. The cosmopolitan nature of the town brings with it different cultures and religious beliefs that, given its proximity to Bali Nyonga, must have an influence on some of its cultures. It is for example, not uncommon for Bali Nyonga indigenes to marry partners from neighbouring villages or even countries. Historically, the people of Bali Nyonga belong to the Chamba Leko-speaking people, who claim to have migrated between 1825 and 1835 from Chamba, a Sudanese group whose territory borders between Nigeria and Cameroon to the north, near Yola in Nigeria and Garoua in Cameroon, to the Bamenda grasslands. They are said to have been driven southwards by Fulani invaders during the second quarter of the 19th century. Zintgraff, the famous German explorer, dated the migration to 75 years before he visited Bali Nyonga, based in its current location in 1889 (Hunt 1925). This brief resume of Bali Nyonga sets the context that should be borne in mind as the reader digests the remainder of this chapter. This context can be captured in the following two bullet points: x Marriage and widowhood rites would most likely have been influenced by the cultures of the different ethnic groups that hosted the collective people of Bali Nyonga during their migration south to the current location; 20 Derived from population data as reported in the “Annuaire Statistique du Cameroon (2006)” from the Institute National de la Statistique du Cameroon [44.212.50.220] Project MUSE (2024-03-29 01:25 GMT) 61 x By virtue of Bali’s proximity to Bamenda and other neighbouring villages, together with the increase trend of intercultural marriages and Christianity, will almost certainly result in further ‘adulterations’ to the marriage and widowhood rites which are currently considered as baseline. Most of the research carried out in pulling this paper was conducted by interviewing several individuals considered in the authors’ views as very knowledgeable on the cultures of Bali Nyonga people. These persons, some of whom have since passed away...