While other South African wedding traditions and customs exist, a Zulu wedding is the most popular, lavish, and pompous. Although it is practised differently today, in historical times a man would pay much more for a virgin and less for a woman who had a child out of wedlock. The second part was the reception, where we had speeches and lunch was served. Lobola is a token of appreciation to the bride's parents for raising a woman for the groom and should not be seen as a chance to make a quick buck. This has been a practice for hundreds of years in southern Africa, however it now is beginning to clash with new cultural values of gender equality. 9. Zulu wedding or "umabo" as they call it is no exception. Isiwunkulu - lenkomo eyohlatshwa emshadweni ihlatshelwe abesifazane. In the Zulu culture/costumes for the wedding to take place the lobola must be paid first to the brides family. Isiwunkulu - lenkomo eyohlatshwa emshadweni ihlatshelwe abesifazane. Furthermore, the grooms family must buy items such as blankets, pillows and other particular household items to practice an costume called Umembeso to honor . She then pulls back the bed covers for the groom to lie down. One such ceremony is the lobola negotiation ceremony. Inkomo yomncamo - lenkomo kamakoti ayihlaba ekhaya evalelisa ezintombini zangakubo. As a link between two families, lobola negotiation is a tradition that was implemented in the old days where a man pays the family of his fiancé for her hand in marriage. Sjambok. Horse. 11. Looks like 'pay back the lobola' ends the same way as 'pay back the money'. According to Zulu culture, if you pay lobola, you are not due a "refund" should things go haywire between you and your wife-to-be. The term I will use to refer to Zulu people in this piece is the ' Zulus' but before I reflect on the Zulu traditional wedding, it is important that I give a brief account on the history and . "Lobola is not forced on anyone, a man pays lobola out of the . The groom and his family present gifts to the bride and her family. One of the key social systems shared by the Zulu and the Ndebele is the lobola institution whereby a man gives material goods to his parents-in-law to claim fatherhood over his children (ukuhlenga) or to solemnise the marriage.This custom, like all aspects of Ndebele social culture, has . ASSIGNMENT: 04 Lunga Gwentshe - 081 328 2268 The purpose of this assignment is to show how my cultural ceremony like marriage impact my daily existence in terms of how we use language. A Zulu wedding is not just a one day celebration but a series of events. According to Zulu culture, if you pay lobola, . When he arrived they came in and sat with us. Lobola is still practiced in South Africa today although problems surround the practice and changes are occurring. In the Zulu kingdom, lobola is considered as a show of the grooms commitment to his future bride. Her mother and a few immediate female relatives will visit the home of the unborn child's father to inform their family of the pregnancy. 3 In Shona and Sesotho languages it is called roora and muhandi respectively. 11. Zulu says the issue of lobola is a complex one in that different cultures have different ways of doing things. In traditional societies in which a herd of cattle was considered an asset, mainly beasts were given to parents of the bride by the groom's family as roora 1 or lobola/emalobolo. The bride will buy groceries for the groom and his family. Acknowledge the pregnancy and do what is needed to be done. The groom goes to his father's herd to select the cattle to be used in paying his bridewealth; this according to Zulu belief perpetuates the family heritage. 2 While the focus of this paper is on lobola, it should be recognised that this cannot be fully . Ndebele Pregnancy Practices. A Zulu traditional wedding, like any other African wedding, is bright with music, colors, dancing, and feasting. Umbondo. The groom is not allowed to participate directly in the actual negotiations. UMKHEHLO is a Zulu tradition pre-wedding ceremony. In South Africa, young women are working to reconcile tradition and modern rights by working to find a middle ground. Lobola is basically bride's price in cows or the monetary equivalent of cows (which is around 4,000 to 8,000 rand or 500 to 1000 US dollars per cow!). The ceremony is done for a woman who is about to get married and takes place after Lobola has been paid. We are now preparing for our Traditional wedding". He is Tswana and I am Sotho (from Lesotho). The practice of paying "Lobola" (or Lobolo) as part of the marriage process is a tradition in many South African cultures including Xhosa, Zula, Swazi and Ndebele. The groom buys the cow for the ceremony and the woman is showered with . "So when lobola is paid, so to speak, culturally, that's it. In isiZulu, ilobolo is the noun for bridewealth and (uku)-lobola is the verb that refers to the practice of providing ilobolo. Ndebele Clans & Totems. The majority of them live in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. Stage One - Introduction. Each seed representing a set amount. The first step is lobola, which is a long process and cant be done in one day, then izibizo where gifts are brought to the brides mother and close family, followed by umbondo where groceries are brought for the grooms family. The Ndebele originated within the Zulu Kingdom in the 1820s and so they share similar customs with the Zulu. The bride prize system among the Zulu people is called lobola and it is paid with cattle, either before the wedding ceremony or after. Lobolais sometimes translated as or referred to as "the bride price." It is a term given to the process of determining and making the actual payment to the bride's parents (especially the father) of that which is demanded or negotiated for the privilege of marrying their daughter. Both families shared a meal and rejoiced. Lobola is regarded as bride price which is paid by the groom to bride' s family. The Zulu Reed Dance is an important component of . The lobola process is when the groom-to-be along with his family pay a certain amount of money to the bride's family in order to obtain the right to marry their daughter. His family wrote a letter and we accepted it with the date requested. Isiqondo - lenkomo inikezwa umakoti mhla ephuma ekhaya eya emzini bethi ngayo ekhaya lakhe adle asuthe angalambi. Newly elected Zulu King, His Majesty King Misuzulu Zulu, has sent a delegation to Newcastle in KwaZulu-Natal to pay lobola to his first future wife. The groom is not allowed to participate directly in the actual negotiations. Umabo is a very important ritual in Zulu culture. The big motive was to receive the full lobola especially inkomo kamama (the eleventh cow). Ukuhlolwa kwezintombi has been historically regarded as a vital social tool to bring pride to the virgin girl, the parents and the community as a whole. As part of the drama the bridesmaids and other young ladies from the bride's side hit the groom with small sticks, after which the groom runs away. We had 3 parts to our traditional wedding. Many people combine the lobola and umembeso ceremonies, they are in fact separate ceremonies, even when they are performed on the same day. Often, a great deal of pomp, ceremony and robust negotiations accompany this custom. Lobola are tokens given to the parents (including the extended family members) of the bride to legalise the marriage. Some of these are: Firstly, cattle are largely being replaced by money as "families living in a city might not have the. Traditionally if lobola was not paid it showed that the families did not approve of the marriage. The commercialisation of lobola has undoubtedly turned many people from practicing it, but if this process is handled well and all goes smoothly, lobola is a beautiful practice that should be embraced and celebrated, rather than be abused and looked down upon. To Sheron and me, going through the lobola process represented first and foremost our respect to her family. His family wrote the letter in Setswana to my family. Celani Sikhakhane and Zukile Majova. 10. The (unmarried) woman will inform her family that she is pregnant. When they bring back the gifts, other family members join the celebration as a way of . Zulu people live in various parts of southern Africa. It has been said that the lobola also enables the bride and her family to purchase the goods. To test the theory, a member of The Citizen's digital team tried it out and found out that her lobola would be 11 live cows or a whopping R85 500. It the official way of asking for the relationship between the two families. We were waiting for an uncle to come for the proceedings to go ahead. Zulu King finalises lobola processes. The going rate in Zulu communities here is 11 cows for a bride. Lobola is an age-old African custom that is as alive today as it was 100 years ago. It is also compensation to the father and his kraal for the loss of the girl. They are different types of cultures in South Africa namely Venda,Zulu,Pedi,Sotho,Tswana, Ndebele,Tsonga,Afrikaan,koisan,Xhosa etc.They all do things in different ways and different culture even though it is one nation.. The debate around the commercialisation and relevance of lobola is a hot topic in Southern Africa and receives a fair amount of media coverage. They will be invited to negotiate further at another stage. Their language is also called Zulu. In modern South Africa, the lobola negotiation takes place before marriage agreements are signed. For the traditional Zulu rituals, girls from all over the country converge in the area. By ANNIE ZULU. Depending on the culture of the family of the bride, the number of cows may range between 5 and 15 cows. "I didn . They hand-delivered the letter and it was well-received. So that I sound educated I'll throw in an expert (Monica Wilson, UCT Anthropology) quote for emphasis "a customary marriage in true African tradition is not an event but a process that comprises a chain of events". The average price in South Africa is 12 cows. . This number may go up or down a cow depending on certain factors. The process of Lobola negotiations can be culturally varied, long and complex, and involves many members from both the bride and the groom's extended families; normally, this would just be the uncles of the marrying parties, as well as the fathers, where custom allows.