SARABA, Burkina Faso (AIMM/Mennonite Mission Network) The elders in Saraba had a lot of explaining to do when they resurrected a traditional marriage ceremony last December to honor Robin and Zachary Heppner Entz.
“I didn’t know the traditional wedding celebration honored the groom and bride together,” said Madu Ouattara, a young man from Saraba.
Only the people over 40 years of age in the village understood the protocol.
“Everyone else was as surprised as we were,” said Donna Entz, Zachary’s mother.
Zachary Entz is considered to be “a son of Saraba” because he grew up in rural Burkina Faso, one of Donna and Loren Entz’s three children. The Entz family has served with Africa Inter-Mennonite Mission since 1978 and Mennonite Mission Network since 2002.
After eight years in North America where Zachary Heppner Entz pursued studies at Hesston (Kan.) College and Canadian Mennonite University in Winnipeg, he returned to West Africa with his wife of two years to begin agricultural development work in Mali with Christian Reformed World Relief Committee.
Robin and Zachary Heppner Entz met at CMU where they both majored in International Development Studies. She grew up in Manitoba and British Columbia.
Because Burkina Faso and Mali share a common border, the Heppner Entz couple was able to join Zachary’s parents for the Christmas holidays. The villagers wanted to honor the young couple but were unsure of how to do it since their marriages follow Muslim customs and the Entzes are Christians.
“For the sake of doing something significant, they resurrected this old ritual, a sentimental moment for those 40 and over, whose marriages had been celebrated in this way,” Donna Entz said.
Though the majority of Saraba’s population converted to Islam in the 1960s, traditional marriage customs continued for another generation.
“This ceremony wasn’t lost until 20 years ago,” Entz said.
During part of the wedding ceremony villagers gathered in a circle around the married couple. Women gave coins first to Zachary and, then, to Robin Heppner Entz to thank Zachary for the ways he had contributed to the well-being of the village during his growing-up years, such as helping carry loads of grain or wood in from their fields.
“This act would be remembered and a small gift offered on his wedding day. Ultimately, this system worked to keep ties strong between the generations,” Donna Entz said. “A young man knew he would be shamed when few gifts were given, if he did not make an effort before marriage to be helpful and thoughtful.”
Two months after the festivities, people still remember how Zachary Heppner Entz swung the horse tail, a sign of authority, during this most important moment in his life, according to Samogho tradition.
“The horse tail and the string of cowry shells that hung around Zachary’s neck were a symbol that he had attained complete manhood,” Ouattara said.
An older woman, Muso Kura Ouattara, said marriage is more fragile when performed by Muslim ritual than it was in the old system because, in former times, the tie between two families was built from the time the girl was just a few years old. The young man’s family would do bridal dowry work in the fields of the girl’s family each year.
“It is only logical that when the two are eventually married, the girl is treated with the utmost respect. You wouldn’t want all that effort to be wasted by a marriage break-up,” Muso Kura Ouattara said.
By comparison, she believes that modern marriages are less durable because often young people make the decision to wed by themselves without even knowing each other’s family.
“A marriage can take place within a year,” Muso Kura Ouattara said. “It gives no chance to build a strong bond between two families.”
Donna and Loren Entz have dedicated 30 years of their lives to communicating the good news of Jesus to the people of Burkina Faso in culturally appropriate ways which include language learning and honoring the distinct elements of the Samogho heritage.
“We came to believe, in fact, that perhaps one of our most important contributions was preserving and the cultural identity of the Samogho people,” Donna Entz wrote in From Kansas to Kenedougou…And Back Again, part of Mennonite Mission Network’s Missio Dei series.
That legacy continues on into the next generation.
