Africa as a continent has so many cultures, infact it wont be far from the truth if its said that the cultures in Africa surpasses that in other continent. Though some are of these cultures are weird, all are captivating. in lieu of this, below are some of the werid ones.
7. KIDNAPPING YOUR BRIDE
In the Sudanese Latuka tribe, when a man wants to marry a woman, he kidnaps her, at least that’s what is expected of him.
As weird as it sounds, it is the norm in the area, after he kidnaps her, Elderly members of his family then go and ask the girl’s father for her hand in marriage, and if her dad agrees, he beats the suitor as a sign of his acceptance of the union. If the father disagrees, however, the man might forcefully marry the woman anyway. Some may see this as barbaric, but to them It’s a way the men prove their manhood
6. LIP STRETCHING
When a girl becomes a teenager in the Surma tribe of Southern Sudan, she begins the excrutiatingly painfull process of lip stretching.
The girl has her bottom teeth removed to make space for a lip plate, which is increased in size annually.
The lip plate is made of clay or wooden. The larger the lip plate, the larger her value.
5. KHWETA CEREMONY
This Southern African ceremony is practiced by several tribes in South Africa and is how a young boy proves his manhood.
When a boy comes of age, he is sent with other boys to spend several days or weeks in a circumcision lodge during winter, where they’re put through rigorous and dangerous tests and rituals such as continuous dancing until exhaustion, and circumcision.
After the ritual they are all sent home as a man.
4. WIDOWHOOD PRACTICE
As if it is not enough that a woman lost her partner to the cold hands of death, she would be subjected to further humiliation to prove she has no hand in his death. This practice is predominant mostly in eastern Nigerian but only in cases where the widow is suspected of killing her husband, to prove that she is not responsible for her husband’s death she has to drink the water used in washing her husband’s corpse. If after drinking it she remains unscathed, then she isn’t responsible. But if she runs mad or starts behaving weird it means she was responsible for his death.
Family members of the deceased are also required to shave their heads and wear black throughout the mourning period. This culture is gradually going out of practice though.
3. SPITTING YOUR BLESSINGS
Members of the Maasai tribe in Kenya and Tanzania spit as a way of blessing.
Men spit on newborns and say they are bad in the belief that if they praise a baby, it will be cursed.
Maasai warriors will also spit in their hands before shaking the hand of an elder.
So should incase you find yourself there don’t get offended when someone shakes you with spittle in his hand.
2. GRIEVING CULTURE
Women can’t grieve elders In the Southwestern Congo, the Suku tribe honors ancestors and elders, when they die, with a ceremony held in the forest. Here, gifts and offerings are brought, but outsiders and all women are forbidden to attend.
1. BEATING THE SUITOR
The Fulani tribe live in many countries in West Africa and follow a tradition called Sharo.
Sharo happens when two young men want to marry the same woman. To compete for her hand, they beat one another up.
The men must suppress signs of pain and the one who takes the most beating without showing signs of pain wins the wife.
EXTRA
BULL JUMPING
In order to prove their manhood in the Ethiopian Hamer tribe, young boys must run, jump and land on the back of a bull before then attempting to run across the backs of several bulls. They do this multiple times, and usually in the nude.
UMHLANGA DANCE CEREMONY
In Swaziland, tens of thousands of unmarried and childless Swazi girls and women travel from the various communities to the Ludzidzini Royal Village to participate in the Umhlanga dance ceremony.
THE CEREMONY
The young, unmarried girls would be placed in female age-regiments; but that is after they separated the virgins from the sluts. Sexually active girls had their families fined a cow and then sent home. While the remaining girls (the virgins) are then made to undergo virginity test after which the virgins are then allowed to participate in a royal dance.
As part of the ceremony, the young women dance bare-breasted for their king, after the ceremnony, the girls receive pieces of meat from the king and are sent home : Source – Source.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zy3qKx-Lk50
[…] Read also:7 Fascinating Cultures From Around Africa […]