Are you dating or interested in dating a woman from an ethnic group different from yours? If so then you might need to learn a little bit about her culture.
Nigeria, even though it is one country, is a multicultural and multi-ethnic entity with various traditions and beliefs. Just like women from Igboland have a different culture than women from Yorubaland, even within the same ethnic group the different towns, areas and villages may have different cultures. A woman from Mbaise, Imo State may have different cultural traditions than a woman from Nkwerre, also in Imo State.
If you are going to date a woman from another ethnic group, you will need to know which part of the country she is from and learn about her culture, religion and politics. You might even want to learn to speak her language if you want to understand her better and relate at a much deeper level.
If you are a Nigerian man, you can understand as they say in Nigerian parlance – “Religion no be small thing”. When it comes to serious relationships, the issue of religion is a serious matter between the families trying to come together in marriage. A good number of families are serious about their religion and can be very traditional and conservative when it comes to marriage. For instance, southern people are often Christians, and the South East is predominantly Catholic. A Catholic woman you are dating may be quite serious about Catholic views on sex before marriage and birth control. Although this does not mean that she will not be interested in a sexual relationship, she however might be much more conservative.
Women from the different ethnic groups may have their views about love and romance coloured by their cultural nuances. So to keep with the tradition of the ethnic group of the lady you are dating or want to date you will need to learn how to the relate in terms of what she considers romantic. You would also need to consider the traditional ideas about men and women’s roles in the home, and if the lady you are dating agrees with these ideas.
Some ethnic groups in Nigeria are very family-oriented so you won’t just be dating the woman but all of her extended family too. Expect to spend a lot of time with her parents, brothers and sisters, grandparents and even aunts, uncles, nieces and nephews.
So, if you are dating a woman from an ethnic group different from yours and would like the relationship to become a long-term, happy one, then learn her culture and embrace her family and their traditions.