Marriage Cultural Shock Ain't A Deal. Know Their Culture Now!

How much do you know about your boy/ girlfriend's culture? Or, are you waiting to confront that marriage cultural shock?

Marriage cultural shock is a psychological difficulty that one experiences when their expectations about marriage are not met due to cultural differences, especially in the way of life, family dynamics, and gender roles, often leading to misunderstandings, frustration, and even conflict within the marriage. 

In the world today, the idea of not accepting someone on the basis of their tribe is vanishing on thin air. And while many engage in relationships from diverse tribes, a few know very little about what they are getting themselves into.

People find this interesting as they will be exposed to diverse cultural ways of life, far from what they have been used to all their lives. This is always on the dating stage, before being introduced to in-laws and later settling down, where they get to taste the real delicacy of that tribe's culture. That's when ladies bite their lips and ask themselves, "I'm I going to stand it?".

Many ladies experience marriage cultural shock when they find themselves in homes, where mother in laws have to dictate, question, control and restrict their tinest moves based on their respective cultures. 

Some have shared out their experiences as far as that is concerned. A meru lady for instance, got married to a kalenjin man. "His mother never let me to cook arrow roots leaves, while I have known them to be vegetables my whole life". Another one married to a Samburu man, added, "They will always think you are disrespectful if you don't bow down after greeting an elder".

But even amidst the rising intermarriages, some tribes are still considered a taboo to intermarry. For instance, I once heard my grandmother say, "If a Meru lady is married to Gusii land, she ends up suffering and returns home looking desolate and with nothing". But after all, the two tribes still intermarry and only the affected will live to tell the story. 

People therefore ought to do thorough research on what their partners' cultures are like and to what extent they impact a new comer, both positively and negatively and weigh on whether they will be able to fit in. This is especially for a person that one is hoping to spend the rest of their lives with.

It is also crucial to note that one not being able to adapt to a certain culture is not the main root to marriage separations as there are other factors like unfaithfulness, miscommunication, and pride among others.