In traditional African society, parents played a key role in the marriage of their children. They helped not only helped their children identify a spouse but also did a background check for a suitable mate for the bride or the groom their child was to be married to.
By doing a background check, the parents would help their child identify the best clan or home to get married or to marry from.
There are some communities or clans parents would never allow their children to married to maybe because the clans have been identified to be having lazy men or have some unacceptable behavior.
Luo Land
For instance in Luo society, a woman would be discouraged from getting married to a man from Nyakach. Men from this area were regarded as thieves because they constantly engaged in cattle rustling with people from the neighboring communities, the Kalenjin. Men from Nyakach were accused of adopting their stealing behavior from the cattle rustling activity.
While men from Alego were regarded to be vulgar and considered heavy drinkers who could not cater to a woman’s needs.
Kamba community
In the Kamba community, women were not particularly cautioned about marrying men from a certain clan but a region. They were warned of marrying Kitui men who were regarded as hot-tempered and always looked down upon women. These men were also accused of abandoning their wives in villages.
Older men from Kitui were also viewed as ill-mannered due to their lack of exposure. Their brothers from Machakos were, however, regarded to be needy.
Kikuyu community
Within the Kikuyu community, parents cautioned their daughters against being married within the Ethage clan. Men from the clan are said to love witchcraft and always brought bad luck.
The Ethaga clan also known as Ambura or Akiuru is said to have come from the Nyambura, one of the six daughters of Gikuyu and Mumbi. Tales have it that she gave birth to a baby boy with a hairy tongue something that has made people fear the clan.
The people from the clan are also said to be having evil eyes and tongues. According to Kikuyu elders, these people are so evil that they could cast a curse on a flying hawk and demand it to fly down their feet.
Besides clans, Kikuyu parents also looked at the region in which their potential son-in-law comes from. Men from Murang’a were a go-no-zone. They were considered hot-tempered.
There is a strained relationship between the Murang’a and the Kiambu people which also affected inter-marriages between the two counties. The Kiambu people viewed Murang’a men as people from witchcraft land.
The Luhya
Ladies from the Luhya community were asked to avoid the Wanga, one of the largest sub-tribes among the Luhya community, due to their polygamous and unfaithful nature.
No matter how educated a Wanga man is educated, they always go for a second or a third wife. And this can be clearly be seen from Cotu secretary general Francis Atwoli, a Wanga, who has married more than two wives and is still hoping to add more.
Men were also cautioned from marrying ladies from the Wanga community. Ladies from this sub-tribe were considered to be noisy.
Other than the Wanga, ladies were also cautioned against marrying a man from Isukha and Idakho sub-tribes. According to elders, these men would go to the city to search for jobs but will never come back to the village. They prefer leaving in the city working in big companies but does no development projects back at home.
Waswahili
The Swahili men were encouraged to keep off ladies eight nomadic communities including the Orma, Maasai, Rendile, and Sanya. According to them, ladies from these communities brought bad omen and poverty to men who married them.
Swahili ladies were also discouraged from getting married in these communities.
