OPINION: Of Wedding, "Aso-Ebi" And The Church, By Ade Ebimomi

A display of'Aso-ebi' at a wedding

The recent ban on 'Aso-ebi' for church programs by Pastor EA Adeboye of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCG has generated many controversies. While some accepted it's a right step in the right direction, majority believed the church has nothing to do with it as it's purely traditional.

Below is what Ade Ebimomi has to say:

By it's very nomenclature, ASO-EBI (attire worn by and intended to recognize family members in a traditional wedding or other private ceremonies) is totally traditional; an exclusive product of the Yoruba  culture.

Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on where you stand) it has permeated practically every tribe in  Nigeria now - especially the Southern and Middle Belt regions of the country.
Bringing it into the church arena, or the church bringing itself into it, has no biblical basis.

So it is wrong.

Sad to say though, many have lost the meaning of ASO-EBI and now see it as another form of money-spinning venture, partly (or wholly sometimes) to finance the wedding ceremony.

Friends, acquaintances, friends of friends, colleagues, church members and even people who are total strangers to the celebrant/s are now asked to buy ASO-EBI.

And these are even shamefully flaunted and promoted.

ASO-EBI was never intended to be sold to, or worn by, non-family members - for the simple fact that they are meant for EBI, Yoruba word for "family". (Yes, as in EBIMOMI - known amongst family).

Commercialization, poverty, lack of self-discipline, greed and, sometimes, ignorance, have forced many to market and sell (sometimes even shamelessly impose) what is supposed to be an exclusive family ceremonial uniform to even their known, non-family enemies.

ASO-EBI was never intended to be part of the church - just as real wedding does not take place in the church.

Actual wedding takes place when the bride's family receives the dowry or bride price of their daughter from the family of the intended husband, and in exchange, hands over the bride to her new husband's family, in a ceremony that could also include the exchange of gifts.

Getting married at the Registry was but a necessity and a foreign culture forced on us by our colonial conquerors during their time here; doing it today only serves the purpose of satisfying government legal/records needs.

And what happens in the church is merely a "church ceremony", imported into our culture along with Christianity - certainly not a wedding in the right sense of the word. Many a family today only actually deploy it as a vehicle of showmanship and/or "oppression".

There are many marriages referenced in the Scriptures but there is no known "wedding" conducted inside the church. The only wedding the Bible records our Lord Jesus Christ to have attended took place OUTSIDE the church in Canaan.

A wedding conducted in the church and/or at the Registry may constitute a "marriage" in the sight of man and government; the one conducted the traditional way where dowry/bride price and bride are exchanged is the ONLY one recognized in the sight of, and sanctioned by, God.

Controversial as it might sound, the Church has no business in the business of weddings; what the Church ought to be concerned with is the marriage that comes after the wedding.

Banning the extensive (and wrong) use and reckless abuse of ASO-EBI in the RCCG (or any other church for that matter) is an action that's long overdue.