Sunjata

The bride-carrying ceremony described in Sunjata seems to hint at a sense of taming the shrewdness of the bride. Sogolon is portrayed as weak as she enters the village of her future husband: “They saw that her walk could not improve, / That it was beyond her power” (Sunjata lns. 764-65). As the co-wives start carrying her, her freedom of movement is deprived from her. The co-wives also insult her along the way as they sing: “‘The heron-head oooh. / Our heron-head has come this year, / Heron-head. / The woman’s heron-head has come this year with / her crest’”(Sunjata 780-84). As Sogolon is carried to her husband’s chamber, he is able to counter every one of her attacks, thus makes her surrender and submit to him.

In Sunjata’s bride-carrying ceremony, the bride seems to be the subject of ridicules and disempowerment. Sogolon is ridiculed for her appearance and her husband is ready and equipped to claim dominance over her on their wedding day. Brides’ experience in Taiwan’s wedding ceremony is quite different from that of Sogolon. In Taiwan, a bride is considered to be the most beautiful person on her wedding day and her husband must be able to overcome some obstacles before he can escort her home with him. The bride will wait for the groom in her room while the bridesmaids set up a few challenges for the groom to overcome, and he must solve the problems before he is allowed to get to his bride. The groom then asks for his bride’s permission to take her home with him. Unlike Sogolon’s passive role, the brides appear to have a certain level of control over the situation on their wedding day in Taiwan although it is merely ceremonial.

Works Cited

Sunjata: A West African Epic. Trans. David C. Conrad. Beginnings to 1650. Ed. Peter Simon. 3rd ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2013. 1517-76. Print. Vol. 1 of The Norton Anthology of World Literature, Martin Puchner, gen. ed. 2 vols.