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Bubi houses in the ancient Bioko village of Ureka. (March 1999/Truelsen)
Before beginning a detailed description of the solemn civic and religious ceremonies for Bubi weddings, it is time to advance some ideas for better understanding. The Bubis distinguish two classes of nuptials: ribala r'eotó and ribala re rijole, which literally translate to: “Marriage by buying virginity” and “marriage for mutual love.” It appears, at first glance, that both marriages should be considered legitimate, and for greater reason the second; but it is just the opposite. The second marriage, for mutual love, is held to be illegitimate and without value before the law. The only true and legitimate marriage is the first, even if the woman is forced into this union. In the celebration of ribala r'eotó, there is great ostentation with sumptuous banquets and substantial expenditures. For the ribala re rijole, no solemnity or expense of any sort is required, only that a hut be constructed near that of her husband. In the death of the husband of ribala re rijole, the widow has no obligations to fulfill for her deceased spouse, because she is not even considered a widow. In the death of a husband of ribala r'eotó, the widow is rigorously obligated by law to perform the grief of mokondo and bear mourning for a designated time. The widows comply with this religiously from fear that any failure in compliance will bring the anger of the deceased over them, as he sees and observes all that she does from beyond the grave. If the deceased notes that she did not fulfill his obligations and debts, he will punish her with a premature death. In a ribala r'eotó, the husband acquires over his wife all natural, civil and religious rights. All property of the wife passes to her husband, and he is able to claim it if she should flee his residence. Husbands married by ribala re rijole lack such rights and have no legal recourse, as their marriage is not held as such, but as a mere concubine arrangement.
Preparations made, the eager village waits to see the bride appear in public, their ultimate objective to devour the yams, meats, and liquors that are ready for the guests. The ceremony begins with singing and dancing maidens going to the girl’s lodging. The bride, accompanied by them, appears adorned and beautiful before the people, where everyone acclaims and applauds her, telling her she is beautiful, fortunate, and lucky. She gives a few turns around the plaza, chanting and dancing with her bridesmaids and childhood companions, then goes to sit in a site of preference, holding court with her intimates. Afterward, the young men usually sing: E Buebue pul’oppua to eke: “Bring out the girl so that we might see her.” To jorá a bola be bisaka na ba la jela ribala: “We want couples who marry to be same age.” The girl remains seated while her parents, or those who stand in for them, make their way to the new bride. In a solemn act of the marriage agreement, they admonish her with warnings and threats to be permanently faithful to her spouse, never adulterous, and outline possible punishments. Warnings and threats also come from the president of the assembly. Then the group begins to pass before the bride, giving her a thousand congratulations and best wishes while predicting and wishing for her complete happiness, prosperity, and luck in her new state. She answers with a smile and inclination of her head. Meanwhile, a small group of young men intones different songs to her, in which they set out a series of admonishments and advisories that she must bear in mind. Here are some of them: O chi a s’eribola, o ari bolelo: “Don’t believe yourself beautiful, though for you the village has gathered.” A boari nchioeppala, nho eppala, na o chi b’eppam oba: “One must not sing praises to a woman, but as you haven’t been self-congratulatory, but rather have honored others, we sing to you.” Bue pale o bulé etupetue: “Never go to unknown regions.” A boari a pule tchobo, bue jel’epotó: “Woman, do not leave the house, do not become fond of wandering the streets, nor go to the foreigners.” Bue pat’i tchibo id meri o bèro: “Don’t break the fragile shells of your mother.” A boari o a ta re o lotoho loa balolo: “Woman, don’t drink from the same glass as the old ones.” O loria lo boobbo loa babila buella: “Remember that you must gather the fruit of the palm trees.” After the aforementioned, the attendees begin the banquet of rice, yams, meat, and wine, which they have already devoured with their eyes. A grand dance follows immediately, and, on that first day, it will generally last from nine at night until the next dawn. Big cups of liquor are distributed from time to time, to help alleviate weariness caused by the Bubi dance, and to help conserve strength and warm enthusiasm. Depending on the power and wealth of the spouse, the wedding celebration may last from eight to fifteen days, but the more common solemnity is no longer than three days. It ends when the people who live farther away return to their homes and ordinary chores. When the majority of guests have left for their own homes, the new bride and her court of friends and bridesmaids, dressed in gowns with wedding adornments, head for the district’s neighborhoods and small settlements. They stop in the central places and houses of principal families and illustrious persons. Here they usually sing folk songs allusive to their own families or homes, with the hope of receiving some reward that will serve as payment for the party expenses. After a song and dance for a family in front of their house, the family affectionately congratulates the new bride, giving her well-wishes and a small gift. She responds with grand signs of gratitude, the entire entourage giving loud applause to the family, repeating Iee! Ieee!: “Long life! Long life!” The maiden, who carries a calabash of liquor on her head, offers it to the head of the family so that he can taste and enjoy the delicious liquor. He draws the calabash to his lips and drinks a sip of it. I have witnessed at various times such celebrations but, singularly, in a village of the north, I tried to find out if they faithfully practice these rites and ceremonies. After a party that lasted three days in all, it was about nine in the morning when I discerned coming quite swiftly in the direction of my residence was the bride and her court of friends with their antique adornments. In arriving at my door, and without other salutation, they began to dance and to sing the following song:
BUBI 1. Eh, Páteri, silo ke sitoho san S’oki s’o boatta Obo tooboela o bitim Boe epamabuella.
2. E sibeloa natoe a la pule Sitima buella L’ibacho biau li kottoe Le ohae o boriba.
ENGLISH 1. Father, this little calabash Has its history, That you will be able to narrate In the Spanish language.
2. To the bottom of the ship The foreigner will hear, And politely he will perceive Our genial greetings.
In finishing the song and dance, they delivered a very expressive look. I understood their wishes and extended some silver coins, which they received with thundering “Long life’s!” to the Father. They, in turn, offered me the small calabash and, so as not to earn their disdain or disgust, I accepted it and brought it to my lips. They were very content and seemed satisfied with my action. Happy as can be, they took themselves to dance and sing at other places. It is to be noted that the first house they visited was not that of the botuku, but that of the missionary. From the aforementioned it is clear that celebrations and ceremonies for Bubi marriage have no greater objective than to notify the newlywed wife of the obligations of her new state, to congratulate her for preserving the flower of virginity, and to present her to future generations as a model of spousal fidelity.
The legitimate wife is the exclusive property of her husband, even after his death. A widow who has performed the ceremonies and rites that widowhood imposes will, therefore, live in complete self-liberty with no obligations to the family of her deceased spouse. Nor is she passed on as property of the dead spouse’s family, as is done in the Fang, Yaunde, and other tribes. The children of the marriage become the property and dominion of the father’s family, but the widow is free, independent, and the owner of her own person. She acquires the right to unite with the male who best pleases her, although he may have wives eotó and other concubines, as Bubi laws and customs authorized polygamy. If the widow had no children from the dead spouse, and afterward has them from the other male, these are not the property of the father who produced them. They belong to the family of the deceased man who had bought or given a dowry for the baby’s mother. It is from this that we have children considered legitimate, but not as we understand it in Europe. The children born of ribala r’eotó are legitimate children in the European manner. Those born of ribala re rijole are legitimate children of the man who produced them. Children are considered legitimate of a male who paid a dowry or bought the woman who gave birth, and, if he has already died, the infant becomes the property of the deceased’s relatives. Equally, they distinguish two legal homelands. The legal homeland of those born from ribala r’eotó is the same as that that of the father who procreated them. For those born of ribala re rijole their homeland is the place of their birth. And the legal homeland of a child of a deceased father is that of the legal father. In their own way there are among the Bubi uncles and aunts, nieces and nephews, cousins, both natural and legal, similar to that which we said before. For them, lawful relationship is more intimate, rigid, and strong than carnal relationship. Laws and customs tolerate and still permit matrimonial unions between cousins, uncles and nieces, brothers- and sisters-in-law, if the marriage is according to natural law, but not if it is legal according to Bubi custom. They allow unions of children of one father, but of different mothers, but not between children from the same uterus. Of the first class I have known three or four unions, of the second I have news of none. The custom does not tolerate a man having for his spouses two full-blooded sisters. It was for this that Lobari, the centenarian muchuku of Bokoko who was a great monitor of the laws and customs of his ancestors, intended to severely punish one of the leaders of Batete in 1895, by the name of Mchile Looba, who had sisters from Bokoko as his spouses.
Ordinarily a Bubi woman never owns herself. From the time of childhood, and, at times, still being in her mother’s womb, she is owned by someone who is systematically delivering the dowry extracted by her parents. Nevertheless, she frequently obtains the liberty she longs for in one of four ways: By will of her lawful father; by repudiation from her own husband; by unavoidable divorce; by widowhood or death of a spouse ribala r’eotó. We have already discussed true widowhood. Now we are going to explain how a woman obtains her liberty in the other three ways. It sometimes occurs, though rarely, that the lawful father of a young girl will declare formally and sincerely before the family council that he will not sell his daughter to any man. He vows that he will not receive a dowry for her, and that he will leave her free to choose the male that pleases her. Another way she obtains freedom is when repudiation takes place. This is when the husband, whether from frequent disagreements, dislike, or boredom, throws her out of his house. A forced divorce takes place when the deceased of the family, or morimó, manifests and reveals to the mojiammó or tribal prophet that a man and wife, legally united in matrimony, cannot continue cohabitation. He compels them to a perpetual and absolute separation, with the threat of certain death of one or both spouses if they do not divorce in the time the mojiammó has prearranged. As the Bubi are extremely superstitious and greatly fear death, even though both have been living in concordance, harmony, and love one other tenderly, they unfailingly will separate. This is the reason they call such a separation unavoidable (or inevitable) divorce. I knew some, in 1895, separated by the intimation of a deceased member of the family or morimó.
As I have indicated, it was the general custom among the Bubi to buy baby girls, at times before birth with her still in her mother’s womb. There was a condition to this: If the birth resulted in a male, he would be the purchaser’s man-servant or servant, and, if female, she would be his spouse or the spouse of his son, if he is of marriageable age. They would stipulate the price, which ordinarily would not exceed four hundred Spanish pesetas. The amount agreed and set in place, the claimant would begin his payments, at times with pieces of game or with big bowls of fish, at other times with bags of salt or with cans of oil. Sometimes payment was with long strings of chibo, other times with goats, and other times with physical labor, as the biblical Jacob. Both parties kept notes of the type and number of pieces of game, etc., delivered and received. Some readers will question: How did they keep these notes, since they did not know how to write? They would place values on bundles of different-sized pieces of sticks with which they recorded the number of a particular type, and in order to distinguish the type and amount, they used bundles of longer and shorter sticks. They also used a pole or walking stick, in which they made different cuts or hacks with a knife, which indicated the class and number of items delivered and received. From the aforementioned, one understands that the betrothed or engaged baby girl, even as an infant, is considered and considers herself married. When she arrives at a suitable age, before her spouse will bring her into his home, he usually demands her inspection or examination to assure that she is still a virgin, or if she has been deflowered and compromised. If she remains a virgin, she receives praise, congratulations, wishes for happiness and sincere, cordial blessings from all. But, if the examination proves her to have been violated or raped, whether voluntarily or involuntarily, she stands before the public in extreme dishonor and shame. They rise up against her, hurtling insults, affronts, and damnation. In their reasoning, if she voluntarily gave up her virginity, then her criminal spirit has caused her to be humiliated, dishonored and defamed, and her unjust intentions were to offend and affront the future spouse and his family. If she has been forced and violated, then she is rebuffed for not having denounced the perpetrator of the brutality. It frequently happens that the girl declares her innocence and protests these accusations, swearing that no one violated her. Then they use torture to pull a confession out of her. The torture consists in encircling the presumed criminal’s wrists with a thin, strong cord, from which hang two ropes. Some men will pull these ropes, at first, softly, but if she continues her denial, they pull with all their strength. The cord breaks the skin and penetrates the flesh, causing such sharp pain that she screams in desperation, crying pitifully. If this doesn’t stop her insistence, then they pull harder, until, from the vehemence of the atrocious pain, the young woman confesses her crime and declares someone to be her accomplice. The crime confessed, it is given over to the principal chief, who will punish all those involved as an example. He immediately sends for the delinquents and asks them if what the girl has declared is true. If the answer is yes, the male is obliged to make restitution to the husband for the entire dowry that he had paid for her. If the accomplice is insolvent, he remains indebted to pay her family and receives other penalties. Again the chief interrogates the spouse of the young woman and, although she is deflowered, asks if he wants to accept her for his spouse. If, in spite of everything, the spouse receives her, then half of the restitution remains with the chief. If he refuses to accept her into his house and receive her for his spouse, the restitution for the entire debt becomes his and the girl is deposited in the house of her parents. Both adulterers will be forever dishonored. At times the girl, in her own self-interest, makes a declaration that is slanderous, either to disguise the true accomplice or to slander another who has scorned her. I have witnessed this last treatment. Finding myself, at the beginning of this current century, in a certain village in the north, the old women inspected a girl and found her violated. The chief gathered the entire village under a covered space so that all would hear the girl’s declaration. He requested that I be present, and I agreed. At first the young woman refused to talk, and in spite of the chief and village leaders’ orders and requests, she remained mute. The chief ordered them to torture her, and, forced by intense pain, she revealed two young men to be her accomplices, calling them by their names. They were well able to defend themselves before the general assembly, although one did better than the other. There passed several years, and I casually encountered the aforementioned young person, now a Christian, and I asked her: “Tell me: Those two young men that you declared to be your accomplices in that general meeting of your village, had you been truthful about it?” She answered: “Fulano” – she named him – “it was true, certainly; but about Zutano I hadn’t been honest. I only wanted to slander him because I desired to have him for a friend and he disdained me.” In general, the young men tenaciously deny complicity with the girl and they declare her confession to be slanderous because she has ill will toward them. To better purge the truth, in ancient times, in the north in particular, never in the south, they used a threatening, ritualistic oath. The chief would send some people to the mountains to hunt a deer, no other animal. Once they had the deer, they presented it to the chief, who ordered it split from top to bottom and divided. This done, he gave the order that all the village join together in the big plaza, which almost all the villages have. Once they were gathered, he placed the two deer pieces at the plaza entrance, ordering those accused of adultery to appear in public. He ordered each one to pass through the middle of the two pieces, saying these exact words: “Be I open and divided in pieces as this animal, if in some time I joined with or knew this girl.” In such solemn moments the girl stood completely nude in the middle of the assembly. It is a deeply rooted belief among the Bubis that the perjurer, although he may go free of punishment from the residents of this world, will not escape the terrible and atrocious punishment that the boribó or inhabitants of the other world who belong to his family, or to the girl’s family, will inflict on him. Under the degree of superstition that shrouded them, no guilty person dared recklessly pass through the deer, speaking such a horrible oath. Once they had ascertained the truth of the violation, they condemned the delinquents to repeat the same act in the plaza and in the presence of all those present. It is an inconceivable thing used only by the more primitive, abject, and savage villages. The inhabitants of a certain district attribute the Jesuit fathers abandoning that place from such an action, carried out not very far from their residence. The law used to allow a husband to punish his unfaithful wife with severity. In the southern districts the female adulterers were condemned to be suspended from tree branches, their hands tied, one to one branch and one to the other, entirely nude, the body hanging in the air without support. For the penalty to be an even greater example and the torture more intense and atrocious, they would tie baskets and kettles filled with stones to her feet. In this position she was contemplated by the entire village, gathered in front of the gallows, with the right to ridicule, mock, and shower her with insults, imprecations and curses, or even beat her if they felt the desire. No one could escape this torment alive. Today, they no longer use this torture out of fear of the Spanish government. The things of this writing are from more primitive times. Back then, in the month of December 1895, in the village of the Batete named Rachá or Ruiché, there was a woman condemned of the aforementioned penalty. This unfortunate remained all day suspended from the terrible tree. When night arrived, they left her alone, abandoned to her torments. The night was extremely dark and gloomy. Protected by the darkness, she made desperate and supreme efforts to free herself, and at the end of an hour of violent struggle, the knot broke and she dropped to the ground, senseless. Coming to, she undertook a hasty escape through woods and thickets in the direction of the mission, arriving in the depths of the night. To see her, even the most heartless and indifferent man would be moved to compassion and pity. She came with her body bruised and with contusions, both wrists with deep and bloody sores. Her eyes were wild, with signs of mental disorder. Small noises startled her and she believed her executioners still pursued her. After three days she became free of the nightmares, but never again would she return to the mountain with her people. Thus one explains why adultery among the Bubis, in the ancient days, was so rare. Once the crime was exposed, one knew with certainty they would be condemned to barbaric and atrocious penalties. Besides what has already been stated, although the guilty might conceal the fault from the eyes of the mortals, it wasn’t or isn’t hidden from the deceased or borimó. From the land beyond the grave they are abreast of so much that happens in this sublunar world, and they punish anyone who violates matrimonial law with death. According to their superstitious beliefs, the crime of adultery is never committed with impunity, but one will receive his just deserts either by the living or by the deceased. Later on, the penalties were gentler. In 1914, an adulterer of the besé of Batete was given a fine of ten goats. It seemed an excessive fine to him, so he came to me hoping that I would take up his cause. I told him: “The fine, although large, I consider very just and reasonable. The fines and other penalties defend and protect the laws. Go, pay the ten goats. There is nothing I can do for you.”
Bubi laws and customs used to impose a rigorous precept on women to wear mourning attire for an entire year after their legitimate husbands had died. The law was general and absolute, but obligated only women who had contracted in ribala r'eotó with their deceased husbands, and not those united in ribala re rijole. If a woman found herself in a condition that made it impossible to carry out the law, such as, for example, she was still an infant or confined in the maternal womb, once she arrived at puberty she became obligated to carry out the law. These same laws apply to a woman who had been thrown from her house by the deceased, separated from him by a forced divorce, or if she had moved to a far-away place. As soon as she knew of the spouse’s death, she must return to the deceased’s village and fulfill the laws of mourning and widowhood. In carrying out these laws, all widows, infidels, and even Christians, are very exact and punctual. It is believed that from the borimó or region of the dead, the deceased spouse is able to demand atonement for all of their actions. With death he has obtained a supreme power with near-omnipotence to punish with frightening and unheard of calamities any person who in life belonged to him, should he be shown disrespect or damage be done to his good memory, reputation, or esteem. The requirements of widowhood are: 1: She must remain secluded in the house of the deceased exactly twenty days; 2: On the sixth day of seclusion, she must shave her head and deposit her hair in a small basket, undress, remove any feminine adornments and remain in the nude. She wears only a simple apron three inches wide by six inches long, fastened at the lower abdomen with a palm fiber; 3: After twenty days of enclosure, she must go down to a beach where the region’s most important river flows. There, she must bathe to rid the body of impurities picked up during the time that matrimonial laws bound her. Here they throw out the small basket that contains the widow’s hair. Sometimes they throw the hair, adornments, and other ornaments received from the deceased on his burial site. 4: After returning from the beach she must live another twenty days and nights in a lopando, or a hut open to the four winds, which is raised outside of the village and connected to the public road. She has only a simple table that serves her as chair and bed, and a fire to cook her meals and protect her from cold and damp nights. 5: At the end of her residency in the lopando, she returns to the house of the deceased. There, she wears what has become known as the dress of a widow. The dress of a widow is extremely simple and primitive. It consists in painting her entire body, or more accurately, smearing her entire body, with a clay-like, ash-gray material that has a tint of yellow. Some widows wear hoops of the esparto plant between their knees and calves, and others, on their forearm in the manner of a bracelet, and on the top of their arms. Finally, around the waist they wear a band or belt made of esparto fibers, from which, on the front, they hang a bundle of fibers of the same material to defend their modesty, leaving the rest in natural nudity. Adorned with this simple clothing, she stays two more days in the dwelling place of her deceased spouse. Then, beautified with the ash-gray paint and wearing the tuuba, or belt and bundle of fibers and herbs, she raises a basket on her shaven and uncovered head to carry alms and little gifts that she has made. She travels far and wide, walking where she pleases until the end of her mourning, which usually lasts an exact year. From this moment she is completely free to go anywhere she wants, to do all that she fancies, and to offer favors to the male that solicits them or who pleases her most. She will have no dishonor nor does anyone have the right to ask her the reason for her conduct. Nonetheless, law forbids the male who receives the first favors of a widow to live with her. No one dares to violate the law for fear of a premature death. The widow, during mourning, is well received everywhere. The men, in particular, exert themselves to the utmost in their attentions with the aim that, once mourning is concluded, she might cohabit with them. No one will be able to marry the widow. She may be friend or concubine to anyone, but never again spouse; nor will the children that she has of her friends be owned by them, but of the family of the deceased spouse. In 1905, there lived in Batete a man who considered himself an intimate friend of the Fathers, who had begotten a little son who was quite handsome. I was absent a long while, and upon returning I came across the boy horribly disfigured with big cuts on his face. To see him in such a state angered me greatly: I called to his father and reprimanded him for having mutilated his son’s face in such a hideous manner. “Father, I did not order the boy cut,” he responded. “It was the family of the eotó husband of my woman who ordered it. The boy is my natural son, but he is not mine legally.”
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