These days, it is normal that the dresses of the bridesmaids differ from those of the bride during wedding. This used not to be so in ancient Europe.
The history of bridesmaids and their matching dresses originated from ancient European rituals where the bridesmaid was used to "distract and confuse any evil spirits that may be after the bride during the ceremony."
This was why the bridesmaids dressed like the bride—to stop jealous evil spirits "from singling out the bride and cursing her for her happiness."
In those ancient European times, the bride invoked the gods of fertility to bless her with many children. To do this, during the wedding, children, especially girls, were employed to drop herbs and seeds as they walked down the aisle as a way of paying homage to the gods of fertility on behalf of the bride. Today, they are called Flower Girls!
The ancient Romans decided to wear engagement and wedding rings on the fourth finger of the left hand "as a symbol of love, as it was a Roman belief that this finger contained a vein that leads directly to the heart."
The bestman, the veil, walking down the aisle, cutting the cake, the bridal bouquet (flowers), etc. all originated from ancient European Ajambele.
But today you will see an African who sees traditional marriage as "pagan" but white marriage as heavenly. That is why the same person who dismisses African traditional beeds as fetish is wearing a European "pagan" ornament called wedding ring.
The truth of the matter is that an average African "believer" is not against "paganism," but African "paganism." He or she is simply suffering from self-hate caused by lack self-esteem mixed up with ignorance orchestrated by dysfunctional educational system and faulty religious indoctrinations.
But is it proper to designate any culture or religion as pagan today? Is there any culture or religion today that is completely free of "pagan" roots and influences? None! This is why it is derogatory today in the academic world to describe any religion or culture as pagan.
Whether you see your ancient culture or religion as Ajambele or "pagan", make sure you study it very well because that Ajambele contains the history of your successes, failures, anxieties, desires, and ignorance as a people.
The more you understand them, the more you understand yourself and your people. For me "paganism" is not a derogatory term. It simply means that such actions designated as such are deeply rooted in ancient history.
Prune your culture. Do not uproot it.
Fada Angelo Chidi Unegbu
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