This was the first wedding I attended as an adult. Yes that's me on the left, I told you, my transformation has been a big one in many ways! One of the first friends I made in high school invited me to join in her traditional Sotho wedding. I wore the traditional #shweshwedress and danced the, probably less traditional dance.
In Sotho culture when the marriage is proposed and following successful negotiations, the groom shou
ld make payment in cows in order to get his bride’s hand in marriage. This form of compensation is still widely used in rural areas where the size of one’s cattle herd does indeed reflect wealth.
Thereafter both families exchange gifts in the form of a bottle of wine or whisky, dishes or blankets. The two families will then agree on the date of the traditional wedding when they will bring the bride to the groom’s parents’ home. The two families will then slaughter cows and exchange some of the blood to each other. The bride would then be given a new first name by the groom’s family, indicating that she has been accepted into the family. This new name might be a female family name, like a grandma’s name.
This one in particular lasted three days, I was only present for the first but still one of the greatest experiences and honours of my life to date. <3
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