Wedding

The 50 Best Idoma Traditional Wedding Attire (Pictures)

The Idoma traditional wedding attire and generally the traditional attire of the Idoma people is known as Apa in nearly all of Idoma land and Edema by the Edumoga people. The attire consists of red and black stripes, which have special meanings embedded in them. The red colour represents “royalty or red feather,” and the black colour signifies the “earth and burial shroud.”

The Idoma people are inhabitants of the Western areas of Benue State, and throughout the east confluence of the Niger and Benue Rivers in Nigeria. The regions where the Idoma tribe inhabits extend to include Cross River State, Kogi State, Enugu State, and Nasarawa State in Nigeria. Contrary to popular beliefs, the Idoma people are not Igbos, however, both tribes share similar cultures and traditions.

The Idoma are multi-lingual peoples and have numerous dialects of their primary language. Some of the easily distinguishable dialects include Agala, Iguwale, Iyala, Nkum, and Okpoto, all of which started as dialects of the Kwa branch of the Languages in Niger-Congo.

The Idoma are well known as strong and resilient men, and that is why they are tagged as ‘warriors’ and ‘hunters of class.’ They are also peace-loving people and are estimated to make up about 3.5 million of the Nigerian population. Before the 1920s, the major parts of the idoma land were discovered with the Idoma’s colourful traditional attires and culture still intact.

On the date for the marriage ceremony of the Idoma people, the groom puts on the red and black Idoma fabric fashioned into kaftan, agbada, and senator styles. An Idoma bride may style the fabric into skirts, blouses or dresses. Also, the bride may wear a white lace attire or black dress, with a little spice up of a woven fabric of the Idoma people. A traditional Idoma shoulder cloth can be used in place of the woven fabric.

Some of the very common traditional wedding costumes used to adorn the bride and groom are platinum steel or titanium wedding rings, Hoop earrings, coral beads, headgear (Gele), red mufflers, caps, shoulder wrappers and other bits of decorations for festivities.