In a traditional Gabonese wedding festival, it is custom for the bride and her family to wear matching attire made out of “raffia”. After vows are exchanged the bride changes her clothes to match the grooms.
This tradition reveals a lot about the society such as it being a patriarchal society. It is the bride who is transported from her natal family to the groom’s family. It also reveals the possibility that of a dowry exchange.
The twenty-two year old female informant born in the Gabonese Republic, a state located on the west coast of Central Africa, revealed that in her hometown the value of a woman is generally based on education. For this reason only my informant’s parents agreed to send her to the states for school. When my informant returns home she will go for a high price. With older siblings my informant has witnessed the process of exchange many times and revealed a moderate dowry could go for $200,000. Education as in most places is associated with class and status. For woman not already born into an aristocratic family, education serves as an opportunity for not just value but to attract wealthier men.
The twenty-two year old female informant born in the Gabonese Republic, a state located on the west coast of Central Africa, revealed that there are nine forbidden roads in Africa where people who go and never return. The roads are home to evil spirits. It seems similar to the Bermuda triangle superstition.
The twenty-two year old female informant born in the Gabonese Republic, a state located on the west coast of Central Africa revealed, there are places where mermaids live. According to my informant, people can go to these locations. And if they “comb their hair with it, it will grow long” rapidly. According to my informant mermaids are engraved in Gabonese history. They are mythical creatures that are not fully spirit and not fully human.
The twenty-two year old female informant born in the Gabonese Republic, a state located on the west coast of Central Africa, revealed that as a child her parents told her “a filthy room will attract bad luck…or bad spirits.” I think that this belief was a way for parents to scare their children into cleaning their room. Mysticism is engraved in Gabon culture this belief was a clever way to use that authority to scare their children.