Umakoti

Figure 1: Ndongeni, S. (2015) Umakoti clothing.

My cultural heritage is a mixture of Bhaca, Xhosa and Zulu; however I grew up identifying more with the Xhosa, as that is the side I was predominately exposed to, although I would be traditionally referred to as iBhaca. Having been raised in a family which did not practice traditional customs,  I would say that my understanding of many Xhosa traditions and cultural practices was minimal when I began with this report.

Through my personal journey of becoming umakoti and through the research, I have found that there are rules to be followed and even a specific hierarchy even among the brides within her new family. These are determined by many factors one of these being how long one has been married; thus giving umakoti that has been married longer superiority over a recently married umakoti., this is regardless of the wife’s age.

Although this research report is based on the bridal narrative, it will, however, be mainly addressing the plight of the Xhosa umakoti. As addressed in a later section, Christianity is the main religious denomination which has had an influence on the Xhosa culture and this report will, therefore, be outlining the Christian perspective of marriage rather than the more westernized or universal marriage concepts. For discussion purposes this report will be adopting the Xhosa and Christian perspective of a marriage union, those being heterosexual marriages, a marriage between man and woman (Goodacre,2007; Church, 2002).

For the umakoti who  practices and observes the Christianity,their bridal journey will involve the following:
a. Ukwenda/ Xhosa marriage customs
b.  Christian marriage customs.

This report will highlight the main concepts with regards to umakoti:

1. Labola/ bride price
2.    Ukuthwala-(bridal abduction)
3.   Child marriage
4. Ukuyala
5. Ukuhlonipha