Moves In Senegal To Cut Marriage Costs

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30038, 24 January 1963, Page 20

Moves In Senegal To Cut Marriage Costs

(NZPA.-Reutar)

DAKAR (Senegal). eegnee STssmcbl been drawn ■■ by reMgt•u leader* la the eaaatry*s Cape Verde region, which taetedea the capital Dakar. The proposals are in the form of a pact which provides that no man shall be required to pay mor* than about £43 in dowries and marriage “preparation fees." The figure for a man marrying a widow or divorcee has been fixed at about Gift.

The pact cannot be enforced legally and general consent is by no means certain, as the proposals completely alter the traditional requirements for a Moslem marriage in Senegal In Senegal it is the man who pays the dowry—and, in fact, not one dowry but three separate ones. He also bears the cost of the trousseau and pays for the various celebrations which mark the four principal stages of traditional courtship and marriage. The first dowry is paid when courtship officially begins. The second, which should not be less than twice the value of the first, is paid before the pronuoncement of marriage in the mosque and is distributed among the family of the bride. A third dowry is paid by

the bridgeroom before hia wife officially leaves her own home for good. The biggest expense of all is the trousseau, which is rarely valued at leu than 10 times the first dowry. There are also festivals to be paid for—one on the day on which the marriage is pronounced, one on the morning after the wedding night when the trousseau is ceremonily opened, and a third when the bride leaves home to Join her husband. The total cost at the marriage varies according to the social status of the families, but it is quite common for it to equal two full years’ earning capacity of the bridegroom. The younger generation of “modern” Senegalese are naturally enthusiastic about the pact which has already received wide popular support At a recent meeting in Dakar’s sports stadium, at which the details of the pact were made known, some 15,000 people voted their acclaim. Opposition to the proposals, though less open, is none the leu strong. Many Senegalese, even those who agree in principle, think that the changes envisaged are too abrupt to be workable. Most are agreed, however, that the pact is a step in the right direction—except, of course, families with several marriageable daughters.