Abstract:

Being a family is one of the common features seen in all societies. The first step of being a family is marriage. Marriage, which is also one of the transitional periods, is frequently encountered in African local beliefs. The phrase “who will pour liquor on your grave if you do not marry and have children” is the most important indicator of how valuable it is to get married and have children in Nuer society. Among the Nuer, there are some stages of marriage in general, such as preliminary preparations, engagement, wedding, and consummation. In Nuer society, marriage is not considered fully completed unless a child is born. Among the Nuer, in addition to normal marriages, practices such as ghost marriage and levirate are also seen. The purpose of a ghost marriage is to establish a "patrilineal" pedigree and to be remembered. In the practice of ghost marriage, it is essential to maintain the rights of the deceased in material and moral terms. The child born as a result of this marriage is accepted as the children of the deceased. In this study, it is aimed to reveal the marriage related beliefs of the Nuer community in the Nile basin and the ghost marriage tradition, which they continue in connection with the ancestral spirits, in terms of the History of Religions

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