Traditions and customs of marriage in Hadramout [Archives:2008/1200/Culture]

Families in Hadramout have their own style of life and traditions in different social occasions including wedding ceremonies. Family members gather around one table during main meals. Other families allocate a table for men and another for women. Families feel proud that they get up early morning to pray and read the Holy Quran. While men go to pray at the mosque, women stay home to perform prayer and read the Quran. There are numerous mosques in Hadramout particularly in Tarim city which contains more than 300 mosques.

When a man desires to get married, he first consults his family about the suitable woman he can choose as a wife. When they agree on a specific girl, his mother and sisters visit her at and come back to describe the girl and tell the man about her advantages and beauty.

Following that, the \”sebi\”” of the tribe( a man selected by the tribe members to manage their social affairs) goes to the family of the girl to tell them that someone desiring to get married into their daughter is coming to propose her hand. In relative families