A Meru wedding

Meru is a minor but a varied tribe containing some of the oldest civilizations on earth. It is home to a wide diversity of religions and cultures, and this colorful diversity is reflected in its diverse and colorful weddings traditions. If any one wedding tradition might be said to be indicative of the African continent it would be the importance of family. A meru wedding is, more than anything, the bringing together of two people as a single family, or the combining of two families or even the mixture of two tribes into one family unit. The concept of family is one of the unifying ideas of the African continent. If a man wishes to see his sons well married, he must have numerous sheep, goats and donkeys. When marriage negotiations are underway, the father of the bride will insist that each of her close relatives be given livestock. The groom’s problem is to meet the demands while holding enough cattle to support his bride. Similar to our custom of sending wedding invitations and expecting gifts in return, he makes the rounds of relatives getting contributions for his bridal herd. Each day for a series of wedding days there is a special event. During the night before the first day or wedding day, the groom arrives at the bride's homestead so as to pick her belongings they referred to as “box picking”. Usually that was all if the suitors met the demands from the relatives. There are many steps that take place before marriage starting at a very young age where training takes place in how to be a suitable partner. Girls would many times go to circumcision schools where women taught them what is involved in marriage, and in meru they learnt secret codes and languages so that they can communicate with other married women. Divorce is rare in African marriages. For you in overseas, it will be IMPOSSIBLE to accord your friend a Kimeru marriage. I also highly doubt it will be recognized by authorities. Kimeru marriage as we know it is a process. It is not something you do in a day by 'accepting the bride/groom'. It may prolong even longer than a year before it is finalized. But the first step was to take the a kilo of Khat (reffered to as gitundu) to the elders of that family and its not jus any Khat there was a special kind that was meant for such occasions.
If you are referring to the presence of Kimeru artifacts, songs or even food, then you can get that in the wedding. But if you are referring to certain aspects of a Kimeru wedding, then you cant have that.
For example, once a young Kimeru man identified a potential bride, he could either elope with her (if they were in love), or organise for his parent to start the marriage process.. Thereafter the parents and wazees would visit the girl's homestead to report the elopement/interest in the girl. They would be given a particular day when they will formally come to report the crime/interest, and they will meet a batallion of elders. They will then give 'gwikia uthoni' to literally book the girl from other marriages.
Then the dowry negotiations would start. In modern Kimeruland, this takes a day. The relatives of the boy would give whatever they came with and promise to bring the rest later. During the final dowry payments, a goat and a sheep would be slaughtered and eaten. The shoulder blade may be cut then or on a subsequent visit. to summarize further in meru there was no wedding in the sense of a wedding day. There was (is) a marriage which is a long process.However, if you want to serve food, mokimo or kithanda(a kimeru dish) should never miss. If you like alcohol, I doubt Canada will give you a license for marwa(fermented beer).If you want dressings, they are no longer worn in Kenya and I doubt the bridegroom has ever seen any. If you want songs, a Kimeru wedding is accompanied by ululations and songs by women. I doubt you can get enough choreographed women for that. But I know what you can definitely give them and they will be happy about it.....a honeymoon in Meru . Problems in a marriage are often discussed with both families and solutions found. Often entire villages join in to help a couple find solutions to their problems and keep a marriage from failing. Marriage is sacred the world over, and that is definitely true in Meru, no matter which region or which culture you come from, and no matter what your religious beliefs. In fact, many cultures have a special totem that is designed to remind a couple that cultural and tribal differences must be allowed for in order to make a marriage succeed.