Cherished Memories of Africa — Page 30
22 Traditions The advice given by a father to his daughter at her wedding: be like a sewing needle, not a goat, meaning do not start screaming like a goat over little things rather, as the sewing needle stitches two pieces of cloth together, you have to sew two families together. Humour They have a sense of humour in abundance. They have a tradition of inter-tribal witty exchanges. Where ever they meet a stranger, they ask his name. When the latter tells his name and his tribe and if he happens to be from the same tribe, they happily engage in a prolonged conversation. If he is from a rival tribe, then jokingly he is told, ‘your name is good but the tribe is not good, you better change it’ or ‘ that tribe are our slaves’ or make some other negative remark. Both of them would start laughing and exchange further jokes as if they had known each other for a long time. Thus when you travel by public transport you will find all of them talking to one other unlike what prevails in Europe.