ABSTRACT
The first marriage of a Yako girl involves a series of distinct ceremonial acts which are dovetailed in a continuous sequence. The Yako consider the appropriate time for the marriage rites to be the second harvest following that at which betrothal occurred. But the proposal that marriage rites should be undertaken at a particular harvest should come not from the groom or the bride's parents but from the age mates of the latter. When the main yam harvest begins in early November the bride has to collect the marriage firewood. The marriage payment or "bride wealth" which the Yako call marriage money' is usually sent with the gifts. The yams are set out in rows of neat heaps of five on the inner platform of the houses which are to be occupied by the participants in the marriage feast. The preliminary rite of piling the marriage firewood is also omitted, while the wedding feasts are curtailed.
