BY Nkosazana Ngwadla
South Africa is no doubt one of the countries privileged with many different people with different cultures and traditions – the Xhosa culture is one of them. In the Xhosa tradition, once a boy is of age, he goes to the mountain for the initiation process and is circumcised.
After about three weeks in the mountain, he returns home as ikrwala, ready to be a man. The celebration that happens upon his return is called umgidi, and his mother is izibazana (the mother of the man).
For izibazana, this celebration means a lot – her son has returned from a process that could’ve easily gone wrong (we’ve seen how many boys die during initiation seasons). Izibazana wears her best traditional gear and sings and dances, accompanied by other women while they welcome the young man approaching his home.
Here are some of our favorite amazibazana during this mgidi season:
