Marriage is a very important part of most communities. For the Ankole people, it is the traditional way of starting a family and involves the soon-to-be groom receiving permission to marry his prospective wife. Therefore, a lot goes into marriage here. The ceremony is called "take away," because through this ceremony, a man "takes away" the woman he’s marrying. The bride leaves her parents’ care and home to join her husband to then start a family of their own.
Just as marriage is an important process, the ceremony is also a vital traditional event. The traditional marriage is of much greater significance than a church wedding. Weddings are just additional ceremonies recently added to the culture. Marriage here goes beyond uniting two individuals to instead uniting two separate entire families. The extended family system is very important here. During marriage ceremonies, all distant families come together. Since the Ankole people are mainly pastoralists, the man is required to pay a bride price of about ten cows. The bride’s family collects this to ensure that the man has the means to take care of their daughter when they marry. They have a saying, “No cattle, no bride.”
