This paper is about the Indigenous marriage practice among bench people. Ethiopia is a country where there are lots of nations and nationalityies live together. Ethiopia is a country with a population of over 86 ethnic groups. The Bench ethnic group was formerly known as the Gimira people, especially before 1983 E C, and in the previous system, the name (Gimira) was used in various regimes.
Based on this, some of bench elite claim that the ethnic group originated in Israel, citing the Gimira, the lost tribes from the House of Israel, as having disappeared from Israel and their where about in the world unknown, according to a Google search engine. They say it can be found, see, for example, a website.
As expected, the Bench ethnic group is currently divided into three main ethnic groups, the Mer, Bench, and Shey Bench, with the same language, culture, tradition, and psychology, and lives in a similar way in terms of appearance and colour, but it has many ethnic groups, numerous genealogies, and other identities. In terms of language, all the people speak called Benc’ non. In English what we call mouth of Bench. Culturally, the details described in this article are to be applied to most of the Heritage culture, experience and tradition must do for most of them. This article deals with one of the most recognizable figure of bench people which make them unique from other is called marriages - ceremonies.
Abstract
Ethiopia is a country where there is a lot of nation and nationality lives together. Ethiopia is a country with a population of over 86 ethnic groups. The Bench ethnic group was formerly known as the Gimira people, especially before 1983 E.C, and in the previous system, the name (Gimira) was used in various regimes. Based on this, some of bench elite claim that the ethnic group originated in Israel, citing the Gimira, the lost tribes from the House of Israel, as having disappeared from Israel and their where about in the world unknown, according to a Google search engine. They say it can be found, see, for example, this website (http: //www.orange-street- church.org/text/lost-tribe-migration.htm). As expected, the Bench ethnic group is currently divided into three main ethnic groups, the Mer, Bench, and Shey Bench, with the same language, culture, tradition, and psychology, and lives in a similar way in terms of appearance and color, but it has many ethnic groups, numerous genealogies, and other identities1. In terms of language, all the people speak called Benc’ non. In English what we call mouth of Bench. Culturally, the details described in this article are to be applied to most of the Heritage culture, experience and tradition has to do for most of them. This article deals with one of the most recognizable figure of bench people which make them unique from other is called marriages - ceremonies.
1. Introduction
Most of Bench people live in Bench Sheko Zone at Mizan Aman City Administration, South Bench Woreda, Shey Bench Woreda, North Bench Woreda, and Sheko Woredas. Outside from the bench sheko Zone bench people are live in Kafa Zone at Chana, Decha and Gesha Woreda; also in Sheka Zone at Yeki Woreda has been identified as an ethnic group engaged in agriculture and livestock farming (SNNPRS Council of Nationalities, 2008). Bench ethnic group is a people with its own distinct cultural values. Thus, culture is an expression of the identity of a nation, from one generation to the next, its language, its dress, its food, and its way of life. Just as culture has its advantages and disadvantages, it has been slowing down its development for centuries, negatively affecting the socio-economic and cultural activities of the society. On the other hand, the study of the nation's history and culture and the collection of heritage have a body and an owner, but no useful work has been done in the sector. So this involves a lot of work to make this a starting point for those who want to do research in the field.
The source of income and its main constituency for the community of Bench people is art products, animal resource and agriculture. They produce art products that are applied to the various industries, like Animal resources, coffee, Save Spice and myriad wildlife habitats. Most of the people are farmers, and they are people who lead lives by earning income from farming and raising livestock. They produce Coffee, bananas and sesame seeds, cereal sorghum, Teff, Barley and wheat, pineapple, and Mango. They also produce papaya and Avocados etc. The main income source was coffee, while others were an additional source of revenue. When it comes to food, their main cultural food is tar root. In Benc’non call as z’ong. The climate and natural resources of the community make it unique and very rich. The semi-arid environment in which the community resides is green and snowy. And the mountain of the earth is barren. It is steep and muddy and often has sufficient rainfall, and there are diversified rivers that are ideal for irrigation (Mulune T. and Derje T, 2013).
Bench peoples have a lot of history, this article deals with one of the most recognizable figure of people which make them unique from other is called marriages - ceremonies.2 Bench people talks about three basic things about life: birth, marriage and death. They believe that these three things can increase or decrease a person in the family.
The fact that Bench people has been not a written and documented as well as not researched and culturally well-documented history of the ancient Homeric marriage culture. So, currently the marriage culture in the society is now being inherited by another. So writing this article has become an indispensable way. Beyond this, in the Bench society it is also known that there is a great need for people to write history and culture in well documented way. Thus, this article is focus on the marriage in Bench society as general objective and specifically on the Marriage Establishment, Types of marriage, the dowry payment and the wedding ceremony in bench society in detail.
Methods
The ideal research for this article would be an exploratory one. The source of information for this study was mostly older people of the community over 50 years of age. They were purposively selected believing that they provide accurate information about study. The Interviewees are someone who is familiar with the culture of the society. Questions and themes related to all aspects of the purposes of the study were also explored by detailed information, social and cultural factors. Information was gathered using opened interview instructions and tape recorders. The text was organized, analyzed, and interpreted, as the descriptors followed the method of analysis.
1. Marriage Structure in Bench society
Human history is based on the existence of society. The institution of marriage is unique in many different institutions. It is a tool to sustain human society. The institution of marriage is as old as the creation of the world. The basic foundation of marriage is “a personal relationship between a man and a woman and a biological relationship to fertility.3 Marriage is an important in the bench society. It may take place in the bargain between the couples or by abduction in bench society. In bench society when someone set up marriage, it should fulfill the common characteristics what the society used to indicate their youngsters for marriage.
Marriage in bench society where most of the time for substituting the descendants of their clans. This is because the person with the high number of people has having high dignity and respect from community.4 The person with many people was getting a respect when it comes to folk song, and other place where the community meets. For the sake of this marriage is established in the bench society.
In the culture of bench people, for someone who have died without having a son and without a race they will be rolling black rock stoned when the Skelton leave the house5. This means that you are born out of wedlock, in benc’non Bamumam shidawo. Because of this attitude, having a child is a must in the bench society. On the other hand, the practice of marrying and having a double marriage allowed in the culture of bench people. Even if it is possible to Mary many women when it has ability to manage those all women. This is because of the opinion that women are allowed to help each other and the other is accommodating the family. Sometimes the early wife arranged the second marriage for her husband by her own will, another daughter, who claims to be a supporter of her own. She does this by saying that if I die suddenly, she is raising my child as my own.
6 Before the marriage the young man in bench should be passed a lot of stage, and the preparation of the pre-marital ceremony is done by the parents and by him. The youth's qualification will be a small backyard for testing or practice. His performance where indicated by ideas on farms, such as producing a variety of crops, sprout plants and Plants coffee on the land the gift from family for getting married in the future. He should decorate his house and will plant a variety of plant in his garden. Similarly, in order to Mary, the women in the bench were able to decorate her mother house in different colors. She may draw small breast like art on the front of house, this implies I am not ready to marry, I am not aged. If the women’s are ready to Mary, the will copy the breast like design on their family house. The males may understand there is a woman in this house.
7 In bench culture the society believe that, if the man marries early or in younger age, he will be crushed. They believed that a child with no strength could be born from him. Thus, the man would go and wear the belt which is prepared from the skin of ox until reached on its breaking point. Then the parents think oh he is already wanted to get married. He is already fulfilling qualification for marriage. Beyond the parent, the elders and others living in the village, even cry out to the parents, saying that Mr. your Son is actually able to manage the wife. Finally, the Parents help the child and find the baby or women that will lead to a marriage for his son’s.
In bench people, if a young man will want to marry a girl, the girl who supposed to marry should have no relationship with either her father or her mother with the boy’s family. The other criterion is that it is not too possible to marry from similar tribe, even it may more than seven generation gap between them. If they Mary from similar tribal and have a similar race, they will have to get out of from their home place and get divorced even the couple may Mary without the knowledge about their tribe. They were ignored from their society. The future child of their called as, the son of Shutam, means that unclean child8.
9 Most of time man in bench chooses a young wife; they believe that if she is a good person, she will prefer to have a good baby. On the other hand, women whose family beloved as free from transmitted diseases were more preferable for marriage. Generally, in bench people before entering in to marriage the couples should choice the tribe which is not correlated with their tribe and there is a process of getting into marriage that is broadly defined as to which tribe it belongs.
2. Types of Marriage in Bench society
The member of bench people are its own marriage system, Marriage is one of the defining characteristics of the community culture. Marriage type is different from the nation to nation. Mulune Tefra and Derege Tadesse, written in ethno history of bench people in 2005, have four types of marriage in the Bench people. However, key informant: Benchab Koika and, as Danielle Tonka says, there are six types of marriages in Bench. They said: Furn Gersta (marriage by weeding); Garcika(marriage of consent): Gocha (abduction): Barzasina (Inheritance Marriage): koxasina(recovery marriage) and Boz (Gloomy Marriage). The types of marriages are so varied, it become dissimilar amount of dowry were paid for each types of marriage10. The types of marriage will be as follows.
3.1. Furn Gersta (marriage by wedding)
Furn Gersta is a marriage that takes place once families agree. In this type of marriage, wedding boy separates a groom lady in the market, a cry or a song or by a family cite, and tell to his father as he fell in love with her; then his father ask her father through elders . This is the kind of marriage that happens when her father agree the elder for his father. In the marriage of Furn Gersta, the boy's father asks the groom ladies family gives his daughter to my son's. According to the key informant, the girl's consent is requested and the ring (gold) is given after the bride groom loves the groom. It means she broke the lid. She was not to look at the boy's face, so she was allowed to see the boy's beauty by her girlfriends. After her families agree on the issue the marriage will perform after paying a dowry. After the bride groom tells her father that she has want to Mary, her father invites the friendly relatives to his home by a variety of arrangements.
According to Mulune Tefra (2005), it is crucial to identify the genealogy in the process of Furn Gersta marriage in bench people: Because he cannot marry his own tribe. If they marry with similar tribe, they are socially ignored from the society and live far away from the community11.
In Furn Gersta marriage the farming and her ability to made talla (gez) is widely studied by the groom’s family. She should able to invent a variety of works, decorating her father's house with various designs and she should master in preparation of traditional drinking (GeZ). She has selected by her hard work and Humility. The marriage of Furn Gersta or Furn Donta is a type of marriage where most of the rich and influential were married because the dowry are so high12.
3.2. Gariska (Marriage of consent)
The marriage of the Gariska were happens when the couples are secretly connected with each other through the relatives or their friends in the market or in the girl's home. After the agreement between the couple’s, the bride groom asked for the clothes and jewelry she needed. She is secretly goes to the market without the family permission, or goes home after dinner.
In Gariska's marriage, the groom will see her in a certain place, such as crying, shopping, singing, or playing with a relative or friend in the vicinity. The mediator looks the capacity of the groom in detail as Whether or not he is able to pay bride price because the dowry is so important in marriage of the bench people.13 If the groom is able to pay the bride price, the mediator takes responsibility on that marriage and to communicate them.
3.3. Gocha (marriage by abduction)
This type of marriage is the kind of marriage that is takes place without the agreement between two couples. May the boy’s fell in to love than he take a violent where in given situation with his boy’s friend by forcing her into the relationship. In the abduction time may the girl families are huge in number, they will be subjected to serious assault and conflict. Sometimes, when her family members is many, they will take her if he on to his own home. Thus, he has to hide her in to another place which is far from his home because she has so many families.14
If he is discharge the bride, even in the face of conflict with the girl's family, the abductors will be arrested by the local tribal leader or the government. At that time, if the male parties could agree that the girl had come forward voluntarily, she would use a lazy ring to escape punishment and the girl would be approached. According to that approach she says even if I abduct by him, but I love him so my father should take a dowry. Without solving such a problem the groom is not happy. In the process of marrying, the older women from the area advise her to tell the girl that she has come to the will and permission of her self’s.15
If he is fallen in love with her, he can even take her away from her lover while she is dating someone else. After the girl is abducted, the boy’s father summons the tribal leader and to refuses the conflict to be fined up to two cattle. Due to the fact that she is believed to be deprived of her future value because she is believed to be deprived of her dignity, therefore, he will be paid to pay her to keep her honor. In this case, if the girl is abducted, by a tribal leader her husband will be subject to a severe penalty and then marriage will continue16.
[...]
1 Ato Solomon Korgitet (68 years old)- mizan addis kattama kebele- interviwed on octo 2/2011 E.c
2 Ato kassun parti (61 years old)- Gizikin Kebele- interviewd on oct 7/2011 E.c
3 Ato Benchihab Koyika(72 years old)- Euxikin Kebele- interviwed on sept 05/20 11 E.c
4 Ato Solomon korgitet(68 years old)- mizan addis kattama kebele- interviwed on octo 2/2011 E.c
5 Ato Solomon Korgitet (68 years old) -mizan addis kattama kebele- interviwed on octo 2/2011 E.c
6 Ato Pawlose Mishir (60 years old)- Tissue kebele- interviwed on oct 09/2011 E.c
7 Ato Solomon Korgitet(68 years old)- mizan addis kattama kebele- interviwed on octo 2/2011 E.c
8 Gibtan Kirzi (71 years old)- Gizikin kebel- interviwed on Nov 1/2011 E.C
9 Daniel Tonka(63 years old)- Euxikin Kebele- interviwed on Nov 08/2011 E.c
10 Ato Solomon Korgitet(68 years old)- mizan addis kattama kebele- interviwed on octo 2/2011 E.c
11 Ato kassun parti (61 years old)- Gizikin Kebele- interviewd on oct 7/2011 E.c
12 Ato Tekle Beyne (60 years old )- tokus kebele – interviwed on Dec 10/2011 E.C
13 Ato Solomon Korgitet (68 years old)- mizan addis kattama kebele- interviwed on DeC 13 /2011 E.c
14 Gibtan Kirzi (71 years old)- Gizikin kebel- interviwed on Dec 2 /2011 E.C
15 Ato Solomon Korgitet (68 years old)- mizan addis kattama kebele- interviwed on Dec 13 /2011 E.c
16 Ato kassun parti (61 years old)- Gizikin Kebele- interviewd on oct 7/2011 E.c
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