African Woman/ Lady

If you call am woman 
African woman no go ‘gree
She go say, she go say 'I be Lady' oh

She go say I be Lady o

She go say 'I no be woman'
She go say 'market woman na woman'
She go say ' I be lady oh'

I stumbled upon an argument on a group I belong to on Facebook, and the topic we were discussing was the advantages of marrying from your tribe. Someone made a comment and it goes thus:

''Somehow, it is easier when you marry someone who understands you, your tradition, the type of food you like, your people etc. For instance, in Urhobo land, a wife must respect and especially greet the relatives of the husband as if they are older than her as long as she meets them while contracting the marriage. A 30yr old bride will normally say 'Migwo to a 20 yr old inlaw according to tradition. An outsider will find this very strange. In other words, marrying from your tribe or region solves a great deal of marital problems. The Jews and Arabs will only marry their people following this reasoning!'

Now for those who don't know what the meaning of  'Migwo' is, I'll explain. It means 'I am on my knees', its a greeting a younger person gives to an older person in my tribe. The usual response is 'Vre-do' meaning 'Stand up, you have done well'...or something like that. Well it just doesn't feel right that I'd have to kneel down to a younger inlaw, someone I am older than, to greet him in the morning when I see him... or in the afternoon... or when he helps wash my car or something (Migwo is also used as 'thank you'). It doesn't make sense to me.. but this brings about serious disagreements in marriages. You hear learned men saying: 'you know its tradition, how can you greet my brother standing? eh en even if you senior him nko?'

She go want take cigar before anybody
She go want make you open door for am
She go want make man wash plate for her for kitchen
She want salute man she go sit down for chair 
She want sit down for table before anybody 

Nigga what? I don't want to be greeting my husband all the time on my knees... not to talk of his brother. What kind of stress is that?

 A man actually sent his wife packing once because she refused to greet him on both knees daily as well as kneel down when serving his food, her reasons were that its only God a human should kneel to... be ye man or woman.

So therefore... since I refuse to kneel down to my younger relatives in the future, does this make me non-african-like? Like Fela said, am I claiming 'Lady' and refusing to do the things a typical African woman should do? And meanwhile I hear that Yorubas also have this culture... I don't know about other tribes.


So guys, do you expect your wife to kneel for you and your relatives in Marriage? Women... is this something that is okay for you to do in this jet age.  Lemme know...

Also, what other tribes have similar terms and conditions for the women they marry? 


Holla! 



Nutty Jay