Lowell Whiteman School

           As I sat at an eco lodge, in Swaziland, perched on a large boulder looking out over the rolling hills of the Drakensberg Mountain range, I reflected back on the trip. Knowing that I was going to be writing a paper, I thought back to the interviews that I did during my home stay, I learned a lot about how the people live their life in Swaziland, but I feel that my interview did not even come close to the things that I have learned by observing the way people go about their daily activities.

            The first time that our trip was in Swaziland, a wedding, a very traditional wedding. Our group was invited to this traditional Swazi wedding. The weddings are an extremely long process for the people. It takes at least a year for these people to actually become married. The first step is the grooms side of the family, all the women gather with the bride and basically they verbally rip her to shreds, telling this girl that nothing about her is good enough for the groom. She is not worth the time or the effort of the grooms family. This process is to test the bride. During this process the bride will hit rock bottom, and totally fall apart, pushed to tears.  A very harsh way to enter an engagement. Hearing about this activity was extremely shocking to me. There is absolutely no way that I (or anyone I know) could handle that intensity.

            The part of the wedding that we first saw took place at night. The first night that we were in Swaziland. We went to the grooms house and waited. The brides family was all gathered outside of the grooms house. The bride’s family began to chant and walk, dance, more of a trot dance toward the grooms house. Blowing whistles, singing a song, and they had these things around their ankles that made noise like shakers, as they danced around it made noise.  The bride’s family brought gifts to the grooms family, and had to break into the house boundaries, these were represented by a canal type thing made of sticks, the brides family had to break their way through it. Once they made their way through, the brides family turned around and went towards the house, the grooms mother was sitting in front of the door. As the brides family was dancing, and singing, they were bringing gifts to the mother of the groom. Asking her to take them in for the night. Bringing a blanket to the mother, showing that the bride cares and would like to be a part of the family.  Traditionally the blanket is a cow skin, and the bride would try to find the best cow skin that she could, but now they cannot do it that way, so they use blankets. The bride is also carrying a spear and this represents that the bride wants to come into the house and into the family. She is coming and staying until she dies. During this entire process the groom is not there because he is not allowed to see the bride. If the grooms mother allows the bride to stay in their house, the bride and her family must sneak out of the house early in the morning, when they sneak out of the house they must not be seen. I do not know why but it is not good if the bride is seen sneaking out. The bride and members of her family often do not sleep because they are so afraid that they will be seen when they sneak out. Once the bride and her family (it might not be her family but her bridal party) sneak out they go to a near by river to spend their morning there. They slaughter a cow at the river  in the morning. I am not really sure what they do with the cow but I believe that they cook it there, before they go to their ceremony. 

          The day time ceremony is absolutely amazing, but before I go into the ceremony I must let you know about a little thing called “Swazi- time” this is when you say that you will be somewhere at a certain time and really you mean within a few hours of the time that was said. So, if you say that you will be somewhere at 11 a.m. you can show up anytime between 11 and 2 and everything will still be fine. In Swaziland things are not run by the same kinds of schedules that the people in the U.S. tend to use. There is no rush.

            The wedding ceremony was supposed to start at 11 am and we did not even show up at the house until 12:30 or 1. The wedding had not even started. Our group were all given traditional dress to wear at the ceremony (we were all very grateful for this so that we did not stick out like a sore thumb (as much)). Looking around at each other all wearing things that are like large sheets, one around our waist ,like a sarong. One around our shoulder and under the opposite armpit tied with one single knot. The men had the same type of set up but they were wearing skinned monkeys around their waists (over the skirt type thing).  We looked very sharp. When we went to the wedding we looked around and we saw everyone else wearing the same things. All waiting in anticipation of the bride. We heard some very faint whistles, the chanting begin. It sounded very similar to the songs that were sang the night before, but when I asked if they were singing the same song, I was informed that it was a completely different song.

            The bride and her family made their way around the house all singing and dancing. The bride was in the middle of her parading family, covered in what looks to be something very hot. At the beginning the bride was very hidden, her family members were surrounding her and a large sheet was held over the top of her head. From what we could see she was wearing something that looked very furry. We later learned that it is a type of grass that the Swazi people use for many things, like baskets and crafts, this was a much finer type of grass. It was a hot day, we were all sweating buckets and we really were not wearing much, she must have been dying, all dressed up in the huge heavy clothing and dancing in the heat. The bride also was wearing a headdress that was also made of the natural grass but a different type because that one stuck straight up as if they were feathers.

            As the ceremony progressed the women continued to dance, the men were not dancing in anyway shape or form, in fact there were very few men to be seen (until you walked around to the other side of the house, that’s where the men were all partying). About a third of the way through the ceremony, the women around the bride took off part of the huge outfit. She now was not wearing all the heavy, fur looking grass. Shortly after that the groom came in and began to dance with the bride. The large headdress that the bride was wearing became two pieces and a half of it  was then transferred to the groom. This represents their marriage. A small piece of an intestine was inflated and added to the brides headdress (I don’t really know what that was for). The groom then went to sit down back with his family. The bride continued to dance. Every woman on the brides side of the family was dancing all day, singing all day, and blowing whistles all day, in the scorching heat. Guests that were at the wedding would go out and dance with the bride as she would come out of the semi circle (that the dancing women had formed) and dance. These people would put money in the brides headdress as a gift. Our group was able to go out and dance to say “siyabonga” (thank you). We all felt like really bad wedding crashers, that totally have absolutely no dance skills.

            The traditional wedding gift is a blanket and a mat. A type of mat that is used for women to sit on and work. This type of mat is often used to sleep on the floor as well. These gifts were given to the entire wedding party. After the wedding when we went back to the house that we were “urban camping” at we learned the real meaning to the idea that “swazi’s party all night”, they really do party all night, and dance all night and sing all night it just doesn’t stop!  When it finally does begin to calm down a bit that’s when the dogs decide that it is their turn to make some noise. This is okay though because the entire neighborhood is at the same place so it really does not keep anyone up.

            Swazi people do not separate. If for some reason they do get a divorce it is an embarrassment for the women. It says that she had failed in the home. Divorce is only acceptable if the woman commits adultery. If the husband commits adultery there is nothing wrong with that, but the woman will get in to trouble and be looked at as though she has not fulfilling their duty.  If the Swazi’s get married traditionally the mad can have as many wives as he wants, but if it is a western wedding the man can only have the one.  

HOME STAYS

            In home stays I also learned a lot, more about a day to day basis of living in Swaziland. The amount of cows that you have determines your wealth. Mais is their staple crop, talk about using everything, the Swazi people do just that.  Mais makes: bread, porage, sour porage, beer, food for animals, and they will still have leftovers after they are done harvesting it that they will then trade. It is quite a process to do anything to the mais, first you have to cut it off the cob, and put all the kernels into a bucket, then take the kernels and put them into this crank machine, it is not a very big machine, but it is heavy, you put the mais in one end, and rotate the handle, someone will keep adding mais as you crank, and the juices from the mais will come out one end as well as mushed up mais. Then it gets dried out, and used. Mais is eaten at every meal, bread, pop, or just off the cob. I personally think that off the cob is the best, especially if it is baked (yumm).  The Swazi people live with no electricity, just candles. And as they burn the candle the excess wax is used for waxing the floors. They wax the kitchen floor once a week. They use branches from bushes as brooms, to sweep their yard, and they use the grass (same that they use to make baskets) to sweep inside. Swazi people use every part of an animal. If they slaughter a chicken they use every part of it. Feathers for warmth, they eat the meat, they feed the other animals the bones, and they even use the head for something, I don’t know what but they use it. The families all gather in the kitchen where they have the wood burning stove at dinner. Some of the family only eats one meal a day, and during other times of the day they eat baked mais. When it gets dark it is family time. Time to reflect on the day and have fun with the family. Often playing with a deck of cards that is falling apart, turning to dust right in front of your eyes. Walking to school Monday through Friday, sometimes an hour away. On the weekends the oldest daughter will cook for the family, while the rest of the family will work in the fields. The cows bring the mais from the fields to a drying area (its like a large wire cage that is lifted off the ground so that the animals cannot get to it). They have dogs, but I am really not sure what purpose the dogs have, they are not companions, and they are not fed well. They must only be used as guard dogs.

            In Swaziland it is very safe all the time. The people have each others back. There is virtually no crime. The thing is with crime. If someone sees someone cheat, or steal from another person, they will find that person who was stealing and will beat them up, sometimes to the point of hospitalization or even death. That is just an interesting way that things work in Swaziland, everyone knows the consequences so they do not commit crimes.   

SWAZILAND

            Swaziland is run by a king. Swaziland first king was in 1750. There are certain rules to become a king. The king must be the only male born from the mother, and must be under 16 in order to be crowned.  The present king has sixteen wives. And the last king had 75 wives. The last king was fourteen when he was crowned, and the present king was only 3 months old. The king has the most cows in all of Swaziland.

            Swaziland’s religion is mainly Christianity, this is because of the first king. He had a dream about a missionary coming into Swaziland and in the missionaries hands he had a bible and paper (paper was some kind of money that represented a way to get rich) he woke up and said to the to the people that the missionary will be coming and they (the people) need to choose the book of wisdom. He said     “If I do not live to see this missionary, choose the book”. He did not live to see the missionaries come. When the missionaries did come they were killed everywhere else except Swaziland. Swaziland accepted them and became Christian, this helped them make better contact with settlers.  As more white settlers came into Swaziland and began to take the land from the Swazi people, the king asked for a councilor to aid in political affairs so that the people do not loose their land, and because of the relationship that Swaziland had with the settlers, the settlers allowed this to happen. Swaziland has never been in a war and will never have a war because of the relationships they have with neighbors (that’s what the people say).

            Many people still believe in witch craft. These people believe that HIV and AIDS are caused by witch craft. In the past people would go to a “shamin” (spelling could be totally wrong) a tribal doctor. And now more people go to hospitals. A tribal doctor will never say that the illness is not caused by a witch. Many sick people will go to a lot of tribal doctors, sometimes as many as ten, to find out which witch caused the sickness. Once they decide who their witch is they continue to live their life and when they are on their death bed, sometimes their last words are the witches name. The family will then ether kill that person or send them away. The people who believe in witches believe that bad thoughts and energy towards someone will transfer to the person, it will show in age and appearance. I’m not so sure how this totally works.

            Through my time in Swaziland I have learned a lot about the history, the life style, the culture and myself. It has been an amazing experience, and I feel as though I have learned much more than I am aware of.