5 Interesting African Cultures You’ve Probably Never Heard Of

From North Africa right down to Sub-saharan Africa, there are no fewer than 3,000 tribes each with its own distinctive language and culture.

If you thought Nigeria was the only place with distinct cultural norms then think again.

Here are 5 interesting African cultures you’ve probably never heard of.

1. In the Latuka tribe, Sudan, when a man wants to marry a woman, he kidnaps her. Then, elderly members of said man’s family go and ask the girl’s father for her hand in marriage. If he agrees, the father beats the man as a sign of his acceptance of the union, but if he disagrees, the man might force the girl to marry him anyway.

2. It’s common place for members of the Maasai tribe in Kenyaand Tanzania to spit their greetings. They also spit on newborns and call them bad, in the belief that if they praise a baby, it will be cursed.

3. In Gio tribe in Ivory Coast, children never live with their fathers but instead live with their mothers in small houses until they’re old enough to move out.

4. In the Suku tribe, Southwestern Congo when elders dies, a ceremony is held in the forest  gifts and offerings are brought, but outsiders and all women are forbidden to attend.

5. The Pokot tribe in Kenya measure wealth by the number of cows a family has. Thus, the number of women a man is allowed to marry is determined by how many cows he has.