Student Blog

Muira is the only student at APU from Zambia in Africa. She says she decided to study in Japan after visiting the country on an educational trip in high school. With so many ethnic groups living in Zambia, the country has many unique cultural traditions unfamiliar to most of us, so I asked her to share one.

What she introduced was a traditional wedding ceremony. Before the modern-style wedding typically held in churches, several rituals take place. One of them is an event where the bride’s family prepares and presents food.

On the night before the wedding, the bride’s female relatives and friends gather to cook dozens of dishes using local ingredients. During the process, everyone takes turns stirring the pot as a way to give blessings—the stronger you stir, the stronger the bride’s feelings are believed to be. “It’s almost like everyone is competing,” she said with a laugh.

Another characteristic of the celebration is the lively atmosphere created by loud sounds. Throughout the night, traditional drums—conical, single-sided drums carved from a single piece of wood—echo continuously, heightening the celebratory mood.

Once the dishes are finished, the women carry them, often balanced on their heads, to the groom’s house. After entering the home and presenting the food, it is then served to the groom’s family and relatives. Even at this stage, strict etiquette must be followed.

Learning about customs so different from those in Japan has truly surprised me. It gave me a renewed sense of how deeply traditional practices remain entrenched in Zambian culture.