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South Africa saw some of the most beautiful Amazibazana in 2022

Culture, Fused, Lifestyle, Stories of South Africa / December 30, 2022 December 30, 2022

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:

Xhosa girlies are doing the most.#izibazana pic.twitter.com/utmClm5zqq
— BlackRose (@BlackDiamond_97) December 28, 2022

We went in very hard kwimibhaco kulo December 🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/36TrM9vvu8
— Lisa (@anelisa_tuswa) December 28, 2022

Being Izibazana was the highlight of my life in 2022. Satana udanile, uThixo uvumile… unyana wam yindoda Halala!!!! 🙏💖 pic.twitter.com/3iCZ1tzgfH
— Nomie (@Welanga) December 30, 2022

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The rise of stay-at-home dads

Bloomberg, Culture, Entertainment, Feminism, Fused, Lifestyle, Stories of South Africa / December 5, 2022 December 5, 2022

BY Nkosazana Ngwadla

Gone are the days when women were expected to be barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen, while the men go out to work. Nowadays, we see more and more men opting to stay at home and take care of the children, while the women go out to “get the bacon”.

A study by the Pew Research Center shows that the number of fathers who are at home with their children for any reason has nearly doubled since 1989 when 1.1 million were in this category.

Women earning more than men is also becoming quite the norm in our society now, so much so that one African woman recently spoke out about paying for her own lobola (dowry payment for the bride) on Twitter.

Her tweets sparked a conversation where even more women came out with similar stories.
Of course, it wouldn’t be Twitter if there was no debate about this issue. While others commended the women for their futuristic thinking, others condemned them for not following the practices of African tradition.

Whatever side you’re on, however, you must admit that the world is changing and so are the cultures of society. How far you’re willing to push boundaries is completely up to you (thank goodness for the gift of choice!).

On a lighter note, here are some of our favorite stay-at-home Tik Tok dads: