Mikeka play a significant role not only in a person’s life cycle – from cradle to grave – but also in interpersonal relationships as exchange gifts, for example during wedding celebrations. For coastal trading peoples, marriages are often socio-economically relevant alliances. They bring together two families, kin groups, and at times two cultures in reciprocal support.
After the marriage has been socially and officially sanctioned between the groom and his father-in-law by the imam in the mosque, the wedding is solemnised through several consecutive wedding ceremonies that are always accompanied by ngoma (music and dance) performances. In addition to the beautification of the bride with aphrodisiac scents and henna drawings, the female relatives of the groom bring wedding gifts – among others plaited prayer mats – to the bride’s natal home. In the past a bride-to-be would also be instructed to plait mikeka during her secluded initiation into married life. The bride would then present her completed mkeka to her initiator – commonly a midwife – upon her wedding. One of the last stages of Swahili wedding ceremonies is when the groom and his unmarried friends forcefully try to enter the bride’ s natal house, but are only allowed to enter after delivering a monetary payment. Before the groom unveils the bride’s face he says the shahada (Islamic declaration of faith) and a prayer for a blessed marriage upon the bride’s covered forehead. The union of the two individuals as well as that of the two families and kin groups is completed.
Video production and image credits: Najeeb Ahmad Nassir Juma Bhalo
Acting: Lamu Arts and Theater Alliance (LATA)