Preparation for Marriage, by Akojuag Dud

This is a recorded narrative in the Thuri language, about 5 minutes in duration, about a cultural practice. The narrator, Akojwag Dud, begins her story with sending greetings to all Thuri sons and daughter over the globe, and she expresses her and other people’s happiness with everyone. Then she introduces herself as Akojwag/Akojuak Dud from Paajuli clan. She says that people have forgotten the culture of giving a girl to her paternal aunt when she is still young for pre-marital education when her suitor appears. Traditionally, when the suitor comes, the paternal aunt then takes her brother’s daughter back to their home and informs her parents that a suitor who wants to marry their daughter has come. Upon her arrival at home, her family asks her repeatedly, ‘Is the suitor to be your husband?’ If she answers in the affirmative, the family then invites the family of the suitor to formally introduce themselves, express their intention and offer whatever introduction gift they have brought. The paternal aunt is equally invited. Once they leave, the girl is then asked, should we eat this introduction gift? If she consents, the introduction gift is then taken to the house. When they come back again with the bridewealth, the paternal aunt is also invited to come. She will prepare the bride’s household kit, which includes but is not limited to an oil gourd, gourds, calabash, sesame or groundnut paste, a broom, and alcohol. The paternal aunt sweeps the compound where the elders will sit to discuss and agree on the bridewealth. The bridewealth is then delivered and taken to the house. Then the marriage ceremony is held after which the groom’s family will be asking the bride’s paternal aunt - please give us our wife. The paternal aunt refuses and takes her time while continuing to teach the bride, and preparing her household kits. Once preparation is complete, the bride is then handed over to groom’s family. She spends seven days with them, and then she is formally made to eat publicly – known as achom in Thuri; this refers to a public ceremony in which the bride eats in her matrimonial home. If she is found to be a virgin after marriage consummation, the paternal aunt is invited to go to her brother’s daughter house accompanied with her relatives with more gifts to ‘fold the mat’, an occasion often marked with songs and dances filled with sense of pride. The paternal aunt then washes the mat and continues to educate her niece on how to live with her husband and their family. Unfortunately, these customs have been forgotten. These days, there is no more education of girls before marriage. Nowadays girls do not listen to our teachings. They all go and engage in dancing disco. In our days, we didn’t have disco. She then ends her story with an appeal to Thuri sons and daughters. ‘Please bring back your children so that they can learn Dhi-Thuri; to at least know how to greet in DhiThuri, the Thuri language: mo (Thuri greeting); and then how to greet while kneeling. She thanks those who have contributed to development of Thuri like John Akuar who constructed a school and a lady known as Ayat who is also supporting school. She urges Angelo Ugwaag and other Thuri boys and girls to come back home to build their houses and get to know the elderly women before they die. The metadata can be found in the spreadsheet document. The item includes the following three components: a) the sound recording of the text in Thuri (wav format, 48kHz sampling frequency, bit depth of 16 bit); b) a summary of its contents (pdf format); and c) a metadata file that provides details re. the speaker and the recording (excel format). Later on, we hope to add a file with annotations that are time-aligned with the recording. The recording was made on the understanding that the recording can be made public, and can be disseminated. Moreover, the speaker asked to be acknowledged by name for their contribution.