Award-winning Nigerian writer Chimamanda Adichie has taken to social media to express worry over how the tradition of western world has sidelined mothers during weddings.
The renowned author who took to her official Instagram page on Wednesday, June 2, 2021, to express her fears said that western tradition allows the father to walk the bride down the aisle.
She also recounted in her Instagram post, how she changed the tradition at her wedding while reminiscing how she gave her late mother her due respect during her wedding years ago.
Chimamanda Adichie wrote; “I have always felt that western wedding traditions sideline the mother of the bride — the father walks the bride down the aisle, the father has the first dance with the bride, often the father gives a speech while the mother doesn’t.
“Our wedding, many years ago, was small and lovely, just as we wanted it. I asked family and friends not to post any photos publicly. I wanted privacy. But my need for privacy is now superseded by my desire to publicly honour the rare and wonderful woman I called my mother.”
“And I hope this perhaps inspires any young women (and men) out there who are questioning any kind of convention.
“Before the wedding, I decided that both my parents would walk me down the aisle. And I decided that my first dance would be with my mother. My father, who I often teasingly called DOS for “Defender of Spouse,” was very supportive.”
“He wasn’t much of a dancer – I inherited his unrhythmic genes – but my mother was. And my mother’s joy on that day was a gorgeous glowing thing,” she added.
