Unique traditions of Indigenous Peoples in my country (Nigeria;The HAUSAs))

Today I will be telling you a story on how tradition almost separated my uncle from the love of his life. I will be reporting the statement he made to me and my senior cousin concerning our choice of a marital partner.

HOW TRADITION ALMOST RUINED MY LOVE LIFE

I have never loved so dearly in my life, I was getting to or should I say up to the age of marriage, I find so many young singles, ladies of course you know but to me, I never had this close relationship to know if they were meant for me. As a religious member of a Christian gathering known as ASSEMBLIES OF GOD, I was taught that dating is not biblical, the question of how I would know a lady's behaviour bothered me because I never wanted a wolf in sheep's clothing or a lady that would pretend to love me, so I embarked on a marathon prayer each day I woke up to see the sun but had no revelation.

So as I embark on a journey to carry out an assignment( the national youth service corp) assigned to me by the federal government in Abuja.

I met a lady who caught my attention so dearly, she was like a speck that stood on my eyelid, I could see no one but her, and the moment I saw her I couldn't resist the urge to speak to her, so we met that day had a brief conversation, exchange contact and social media handles, so the relationship made huge progress, My heart skipped because I couldn't wait a day without asking how she was doing, even heart cardiologist cannot fix this, we meet often and often and then I broke my church rule "No dating".

The word I love you broke out from my mouth but it took days, weeks, months, but i loved her anyways, I avoided all form of misconduct. I proposed to her after 1 year, 3 months of getting to know each other and then we proceeded to get married. This was when I knew that culture could have a repulsive force between partners.

My woman was a Christian lady, but the traditional aspect scared my soul out of my body. When we went to meet with the elders and family heads, I was given a list, and in the list was that I was to be given 150 strokes of cane with koboko(an elastic cane that rarely breaks on flogging). I told her about it and she couldn't stop weeping, I consoled her even though I was the one to be flogged. To prove my love my love for her, I told my friend to give me a trial 10 strokes, so I wouldn't fumble in reality.

As the day approached my heart kept racing but I was ready for this. I was flogged in such a way that I almost regretted being a man. Ohhhhh my God, I suffered that day, I thought I would die but they spared my life when I received the 99th stroke justice was tempered with mercy I was freed, and even a glass of chilled wine offered by the elders couldn't quench the pain I received, my wife wept with me but my joy was that I had her. So this tradition is common among the HAUSAs in my country.

Why is this tradition unique?

Its tradition is unique because it helps prove how much you love a woman. It shows the extent one can go to prove his love. It makes the woman respect you because when she remembers how you stood the punishment, she would always be submissive and stand by me.

I would love @basil20 @usoro01 and @akwaowo to join in this contest