This is the Iyanhien, the sacred handover ritual in an Edo traditional wedding. After the dowry is accepted, the bride, wearing her royal Okuku crown, is led to an elder—often the groom’s father or a senior family member. She gently sits on his lap, a gesture that means she is now accepted as a daughter of the groom’s family. Next, she sits on the groom’s lap, showing that they are now united as husband and wife. In some families, the act is repeated several times, often seven, symbolizing compl