BUJUMBURA, March 26th (ABP) – Traditional marriage is evolving towards a remarkable change that should be verified by anthropologists and other specialists in Burundian culture in order to be accepted as a reform of Burundian culture. That was announced on Monday 17 March 2025 by Ferdinand Mberamihigo, a professor at the University of Burundi in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, in an interview with ABP.
According to Mberamihigo, marriage is considered to be a solemn act by which a man and a woman establish a union between themselves, the conditions, effects and dissolution of which are governed by the civil code or by religious laws, a practice which, according to him, is undergoing changes mainly linked to financial means.
He recalled what was given in the past as gifts to pay the traditional dowry, which is different from what is given today. “In the past, we could use a cow, precious necklaces (inyerere), and a sheep for the Batwa, but not today. Cows, sheep and necklaces have been converted into money to minimise expenditure, given the scarcity of cows and their exorbitant cost. What was considered forbidden in dowry was to use the goat as a symbol of dowry because the goat was said to be naked referring to its tail which does not cover the backside.”
Mberamihigo explained that as families spread out, they adopted combining all the wedding ceremonies into one day to minimise expenses. That was at a time when those ceremonies were spread over several days.
Regarding those new practices, Mberamihigo deplored the fact that so-called modern practices (such as the “kneeling marriage proposal”, where the boy kneels before his future wife to propose) originate from other countries whose culture differs from Burundian culture. In his opinion, those practices should be reviewed.
Referring to Burundian culture, Mberamihigo saw it as a house with four pillars and a roof. When the walls are demolished, the whole house ends up on the ground, but when only the roof is removed, the house cannot fall, it remains intact. He referred to the marriage proposal on bended knee, and the practice of lifting the veil “gutwikurura” which is done today on the same day as the wedding instead of the day after the wedding; that those two practices are the removal of the pillars of the house. As far as giving different gifts to the girl is concerned, he describes it as removing the roof; the house is not going to fall down.
To conclude, Mberamihigo proposed setting up a commission to review Burundian culture. A commission made up of cultural anthropologists, specialists in Burundian culture, and representatives of different religions, because he sees religion as another form of culture that also plays a part in changing Burundian culture.
In his view, they need to sort out the practices that seem to make a significant contribution to Burundian culture and ignore those that do not fit in with Burundian culture. Mberamihigo called on the ministry responsible for culture to popularize Burundian cultural practices in that area among the people.