{"id":25877,"date":"2016-05-01T17:22:13","date_gmt":"2016-05-01T16:22:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.elcrema.com\/?p=25877"},"modified":"2016-05-01T17:22:13","modified_gmt":"2016-05-01T16:22:13","slug":"the-bride-price-culture-does-it-still-make-sense-in-this-modern-era","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.elcrema.com\/the-bride-price-culture-does-it-still-make-sense-in-this-modern-era\/","title":{"rendered":"THE BRIDE PRICE CULTURE: DOES IT STILL MAKE SENSE IN THIS MODERN ERA?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"bride<\/a><\/p>\n

In older times, bride price was a highly important culture in many countries of the world. The Bible even recorded that the Jews practiced the bride price culture.<\/p>\n

We are in modern times, civilisation if you may call it and in many climes, bride price is a thing of the past. However, so many countries in Africa still hold strongly on to this culture and some countries in Asia and the pacific island do too.<\/p>\n

Do you think that the bride price culture is outdated and irrelevant in this modern time where women push for equal rights all over the globe?<\/p>\n

Drama and Shawn would share their opinions on this matter of bride price.<\/p>\n

Drama <\/strong><\/p>\n

The culture of bride price before marriage is an ancient and barbaric one, obviously started and upheld by improvised parents, who see (saw) their female children as an avenue to acquire wealth. Some of the parents who are proponents of this act are often quick to deny this fact, citing the need to make the bride as valuable as possible, so she can be appreciated and respected as their motivating factor\u2014 but the truth is, the people who attach monetary or material value to their children,\u00a0 especially when it comes to marriage do it for the obvious gains they stand to enjoy. This is why you find that in certain cultures and societies of the world, outrageous sums are slammed on the bride as soon as a suitor comes calling. I know of places in Nigeria for example, where the bride price is as high as 2million naira (that’s about $15,000)…isn’t that outrageous and wicked? How do you expect a man to cough up that amount on just the bride price, excluding the other wedding expenses? What this does is discourage a lot of men from going after women that they ordinarily would want to marry. And in situations where they agree to pay the huge bride price, they do it angrily, and end up hating the woman they married for putting them through such hassle (even when it’s not her doing).<\/p>\n

So for me, it’s not ideal, and parents and societies that still keep the practice need to put an end to it. A popular saying goes, “love don’t cost a thing”. You cannot measure love or human feelings in terms of money. These are things that (should) happen naturally. If someone comes to ask your daughter’s hand in marriage, and they love themselves, give your blessings and let them wed as they choose.<\/p>\n

Click below to read Shawn’s opinion <\/strong><\/p>\n

\"bride<\/a><\/p>\n

Shawn <\/strong><\/p>\n

Culture is a way of life of people, but culture evolves along with time; culture is never static, it evolves (slightly or drastically) as time goes on.<\/p>\n

Back in the days, the bride price system was a part of many cultures in the world to prove that the man was actually capable of taking care of his bride or as a token of appreciation to the bride’s parents. Most families ensured that the man paid the bride price in full or the daughter wouldn’t be allowed to marry him. Maybe this system worked for them in those days but not these days.<\/p>\n

In many climes in Africa, many fathers use the bride price as an opportunity to milk their supposed son-in-law of money and other valuables. I mean, is the bride price system supposed to prove that the groom is really capable or is it now an extortion process?<\/p>\n

More interestingly, many countries that hold on to this bride price culture are third world countries where economic hardship prevails. The bride price culture has become so expensive that fewer men get married these days, with many women short of potential suitors. The essence of the bride price was for pride and respect, but that is fast losing ground.<\/p>\n

Also, a lot of men see themselves as lords over their wives simply because they paid the bride price, and it’s normal for men in these parts to brag and abuse their wives — “after all I paid your bride price they would say”. Does this not beat the essence that made bride price an important part of many cultures in the world today?<\/p>\n

In modern times, bride price has brought more bad than good and I believe it’s time to say goodbye to this culture or at least modify it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What\u2019s your opinion about the bride price?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In older times, bride price…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25878,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[854],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elcrema.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25877"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elcrema.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elcrema.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elcrema.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elcrema.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25877"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.elcrema.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25877\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25879,"href":"https:\/\/www.elcrema.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25877\/revisions\/25879"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elcrema.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25878"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elcrema.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elcrema.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elcrema.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}