Although there has been a gradual Westernization of Malagasy wedding, many areas, especially rural, still attach great importance to traditional customs in Madagascar. It is only once that completed the traditional wedding will take place on civil and religious marriage.
If you marry in Madagascar with a (e) Malagasy, it is quite possible that his family takes to organize a wedding in the respect of the traditions that we describe below you. If you marry in France with a (e) Madagascar, you can reproduce and adapt certain rituals to create a Franco-Malagasy crossbred marriage.
The Malagasy traditional wedding takes place in the countryside, although since the fifties more weddings are held in the city, following the Western model. The Malagasy traditional marriage is highly codified and must be followed to the letter to the union to be accepted by the community and be declared legitimate and legal.
The main steps that are:
Before the wedding, there are just a preparation phase: first, the pretender meeting the family of the woman he loves and asks permission to ask for her hand, it is the "fiantranoana."
Once the marriage is accepted, the two families meet, come and get to know at the "fisehoana." Finally, families gather again to "fanapahan-draharaha" a stage in which they set the wedding date and to agree on the organization and distribution expenses.
Engagement, or "fanateram-bodiondry" are conducted as follows:
The suitor goes off with his family until the house of the bride, where he asks for her hand through a speaker. In fact, each family is represented by a speaker, professional rhetoric who learn in a chapel next to the origins of married and conditions of their union.
The two families sealed their agreement by the ceremony of "Vodiondry": it is the symbolic delivery of the dowry by the family of the bride to the groom, an envelope containing a copy of each type of coin and banknote Madagascar.
On the other hand, claiming to offer the bride's parents a sheep to mark his respect, and some members of the family of envelopes containing money: at least three, they are intended to compensate for the departure of the bride the home, where it can no longer support his family in the performance of daily tasks.
Finally, the groom gives the woman of his heart a gift, often an alliance yellow gold to symbolize their union.
Once all the formalities are completed, families gather around a feast outdoors or "Hanim-pitoloha" under a tent decorated with flowers, standing in the garden, where tables and chairs have been arranged, replacing mats for a meal on the ground.
The meal will be served at the table or build a buffet in the culinary traditions of the island. The wedding cake is an important symbol that will impress guests with its color and shape, to choose according to its meaning.
For the busy wedding, have recourse to an orchestra that can play both traditional tunes of the current songs during the evening.
