Nigerians are known for their penchant for parties and the Yoruba tribe takes the lead with their “owanmbe” from birth to death. Chief among the celebrations is marriage rites which is a big celebration amongst all tribes in the country.
For the Yorubas in the south western part of the country, the marriage rite becomes incomplete without the family introduction and traditional marriage ceremony where the families of the bride and groom meet each other and the bride price is paid respectively.
Whilst the bride, groom and their parents play significant role during both ceremonies, there is another personality that plays a crucial role in ensuring the success of the ceremonies.
The Alaga literally translated as the chairperson is in most if not all cases a person employed to anchor and stand as the spokesperson of the families of both the bride and the groom.
In any Yoruba introduction or traditional marriage, there is always an “Alaga Iduro”, who represents the family of the groom and the “Alaga Ijoko” who speaks for the bride family. Playing this role is an added source of income for these people who are mostly women, although some men have also been found playing the part.
Since weddings typically happen at the weekends, being an Alaga is a nice way to earn an extra income particularly for those with paid 9to5 jobs with weekends to spare. Asides affording you the opportunity to have a party to attend almost every weekend, as an Alaga, you can rake in between N50,000 N100,000 every weekend as fees.
Venturing into the side hustle of being an Alaga does not require much asides the ability to conduct research, the flair for public speaking, love for parties and a fashion sense. Whilst it is fun, being an Alaga also requires some work.
This is because as an Alaga, you must be knowledgeable about the family lineage and nuances of the tribes of both the bride and groom. This is where research comes in, finding out all that there is to know about where the couple’s families come from.
One of the downsides of this is that once you become well known in the trade, you can rarely have a weekend off as you will be swarmed from Friday to Sunday. This is because thousands of weddings happen in the country every weekend, but you will be smiling to your bank account.
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