Zuru: Where every male must farm for 7 years before marriage
commence. After initiation they will be tested on their bravery and discipline, and they must prove that they possess these qualities. Every adult that is initiated would be asked to go to the bush to hunt for rats. They must hunt for as many rats as they could and gather them together for the elders who had completed their own initiation in their native areas. We call this Nemonloginu,” he said.
He further said there were different Golmo groups. “In Dabai we have the Danbana group, Binjosno group, Kwano group, Ono group and the Akdada group. Those who must do their Golmo initiation first are the Danbana from Dabai. They usually initiate their youths into Golmo at night where they must perform rituals and offerings to their ancestors to ask for their permission to commence the initiation. The first year of Golmo is called Yakwebni, second year is Boyini, while we call the third year Kwisemne. At this stage, adults who are considered to be brave and disciplined are given the position of elders, based on their performance in the farm. It is a disciplinary cultural organisation that makes our men to get wives. In this tradition, once a person is given a wife, any other woman he marries is bound to be under his Golmo wife and he cannot divorce her. It is our belief that when we die, it is our Golmo wives that will be our wives in heaven. Before this colonial mentality that we are witnessing today, it was only through this cultural practice that any adult in Dakarkari land could get a wife. Just like the Christian marriage, it is one man, one wife. Till today we still maintain the culture. If a woman wants to marry here, she must also do Dato, which means that she is mature to go out and marry her husband. In our land, any man who is not initiated into Golmo cannot be regarded as a man. He cannot be seen as brave and disciplined. Before anyone becomes a leader in Dakarkari culture we must find out first if he was initiated into Golmo or not.
“In our land, Golmo is a sevenyear labour for a wife. Whoever is to marry is expected to farm and do all sorts of work to please his would be father-in-law. After the expiration of seven years he would be given a wife. No matter the hardship the marriage is facing, both husband and wife will have to endure it in the same way the husband endured the seven years of Golmo. It is a pride in Zuru. It depicts discipline, endurance and bravery. In this community, farming and hunting are ways of life.
“It is because of these things that the Dakarkari man does not fear anything as far as military training is concerned. He is already used to it through his initiation into Golmo. Even if it is in war, there is nothing to be afraid of. Because of this tradition, hardship cannot stop a Zuru man from taking up any work that requires serious labour. Whatever difficulty is there, he is ready to face it. This is why you see many of our people in the army,” he said.
He observed that one of the advantages of the cultural practice is that if a man is physically challenged or even blind, in as much as he is identified, he only needs to visit the group for just four days. And once he is accepted as part of them, they will help him to do his seven years labour in his would be father-in-law’s farm and he would be given a wife.
“It is like a cooperative effort. This man comes, I come, he also comes, all from different families to organise ourselves. After that we go from farm to farm to serve. We do this without fighting each other. It is a well organised traditional system. Like the secondary school system, we go from stage to stage from year one to two, three, four, five and six. However, in their own case, they have up to the seventh year of Golmo.
“To marry under this traditional practice is not like what obtains now, where you see a girl, fall in love with her and decide to marry her. Whoever wants to marry under this tradition will be scrutinised. They will find out about his family background to know if they are serious with the practice. If you are in Zuru during the rainy season you will see them. At times they could be more than 50 adults in a group. It takes them about three months going from farm to farm every day. Before the end of the three months they must visit the farm of the in-laws of each member of the group because everyone of them has his own in-law and a girl he is proposing to marry. It goes on like that every year till the expiration of the seven years labour to the family. At the end of the Golmo period, the girl will be taken to her suitor as his legal wife,’’ he explained.
He, however, said that because of modernisation and religion, it is no longer mandatory for every Zuru man to marry through Golmo. “In those days, to be regarded as a responsible man, as well be recognised in the society, you must pass through the traditional practice, otherwise you would not have a wife. Now, because of modernisation, some of our people no longer care about it. However, that notwithstanding, the tradition remains and many people still practise it.”