Culture and the People of Gabon
The People of Gabon attach a lot of respect on the family as the basic unit in enhancing culture and in the upbringing of their children; and they stay together. When a couple is wed, they traditionally move to the husband’s village. That village will hold his family, including brothers and their families, parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents, children, and nieces and nephews.
A gabonese Elder
Gabon has ethnic groups and within each are specific tribes living in a specific locality. Most tribes pay a lot of allegiance to a common ancestor. For this reason, people cannot marry members of their tribe here.
Marriage and Families
In Gabon, it is common for families to share a home with their parents and extended relatives. Gabonese are very communal. Children are raised communally. It is the responsibility of all residents in raising the children. In addition, older siblings at times have to take care of their younger ones.
Here, children born within marriage bonds belong to their fathers; women are expected to have children before marrying so they will still have something should the couple separate.
The children sleep in the cuisine (kitchen hut) with their mother, but are relatively free within the village during the day.
Both boys and girls attend school until they are sixteen by law, though this may not always occur for the above reason. The girls may begin to have children at this point, and the boys continue school or begin to work.
Polygamy is pronounced in Gabon, but having more than one woman becomes expensive and has become a sign of wealth as much as it is an indulgence. Divorce is uncommon but not unheard of. It is expected for women to have several children before wedlock.
However in the event of a divorce, the husband takes the children. Without premarital offspring, the wife would have nothing.
Work in Gabon
In the distribution of work, women raise their many children, cultivate, prepare food, and do the domestic chores. In the villages, the men build a house for the family. The men handle cash crops if there are any, and may have jobs fishing or building. The children help with the chores, do laundry and dishes and clean house.
To legalize a marriage in Gabon, it is witnessed at the mayor’s office in a city, and this is rare. Women choose men who will be able to provide for them, while men choose women who will bear children and keep their home.
Religion
There are several beliefs in Gabon. The majority of the Gabonese are Christian most Roman Catholics and Protestants. There is also ancestral worship plus several thousand Muslims, most of whom migrated from neighbouring African countries.
Cultural Ceremonies
The Bwiti ceremonies involve worshiping ancestors led by ngangas (local doctors). There are special wooden temples for these ceremonies, and participants dress in bright costumes, paint their faces white, remove their shoes, and cover their heads
In Gabon, the dead are rubbed and anointed to remove rigor mortis. Because of the tropical climate, the bodies are interred within two days. They are buried in a wooden coffin. The deceased then joins the ancestors who are to be worshiped with the Bwiti ceremonies. They can be asked for advice, and for remedies for disease. There is a retraite de deuil ceremony one year after death to end the mourning period.
