Hello hello everybunny!!
I suppose it is now time for that long overdue update I promised.
Where to begin
Well recently my sister had her traditional wedding.
This is a bit confusing because they're not technically married yet. In western culture, we'd say theyre engaged.
So let me try explain the process of African marriages to you.
Generally, the process of trying to get married can take up to a year. But, because my sister married a German and it costs a lot to fly his family down here, they condensed the procedure into 3 days, omitting a few of the normal traditions.
In African culture, when a man wants to marry a woman, he pays what we call "lobola", or "the bride price".
This is basically his way of thanking her parents for raising her.
Its generally set at 12 cows. The value of each cow is determined by the quality of the woman he intends to marry.
So, some examples of things that would make a girl more expensive would be how well educated she is, if she comes from a good family, if she's well-brought up, and if shes a virgin.
The virginity part is a big deal.
If she lost her virginity to the man she's marrying, he's made to pay "damages" for having sex out of wedlock.
Things that would make a girl cheaper would be if she has children, if she's uneducated or if she has a questionable reputation.
My parents didn't really charge my brother-in-law for my sister's worth because it'd be too expensive.
Another reason for paying lobola is to see how ready the man is financially for marriage. The reasoning behind this is that if he can't afford to pay lobola, he won't be able to afford supporting his new family.
So that's lobola, the first step.
The man's uncles come over to the woman's house, to meet her uncles and they start the negotiations.
Taking all the above mentioned factors into account, the agree on a price. Once this has been paid to the family, the couple is considered to be married.
The second step is that we call "ukhuhlabisa wabakhonyana".
Please, dont try to pronounce that.
It's basically a celebration welcoming the new groom into the bride's family.
Traditionally, a sheep is slaughtered and you invite the bride's entire extended family over to meet the new groom.
The groom's family guys blankets for all the elders of the bride's family and these are presented to them in a traditional ceremony.
Both families are supposed to wear their traditional gear.
Once the blankets have been given to the elders, the bride's father is presented with a coat and a hat (I've no idea why) and the bride's mother with something of their tradition.
Then the groom's family calls out the bride (who is supposed to remain unseen the entire day up until this point) and present her with their traditional wear as a way of showing their acceptance of her into their family.
After that there's yet another celebration welcoming the bride into the grooms family where this entire process is repeated for the grooms side, we skipped that.
And then FINALLY theres the official marriage celebration.
Now we somehow managed to condense this entire process into 3 days, I've no idea how.
My favourite day by far was the "engagement party".
My sister wanted the best photographer so, naturally, we got the ever lovely Talamia.
The pictures came out so great!
This is our new family
My new siblings
And the happy couple
Aren't they just adorabubble?
After the wedding, my sister and brother-in-law went to Cape Town for a week and our families went on a little holiday up north.
It was unbelievably hot!!!!
But I had a great time with my new siblings, whom I happen to love very dearly.
My new sister and I got these matching bracelets.
We did a lot of hiking and saw so many beaituful places, it was mindblowing.
The natural world is such a beautiful places, it almost makes me want to cry.
This is Mapungubwe
And, my favourite, Blyde River Canyon..
I was so sad to see my new family go but I know Ill be seeing a lot of them in the very many years to come.
While we're still on the love vibes, I'd like to give you this weeks serial killer feature:
Killer Couples!!
I suppose it is now time for that long overdue update I promised.
Where to begin
Well recently my sister had her traditional wedding.
This is a bit confusing because they're not technically married yet. In western culture, we'd say theyre engaged.
So let me try explain the process of African marriages to you.
Generally, the process of trying to get married can take up to a year. But, because my sister married a German and it costs a lot to fly his family down here, they condensed the procedure into 3 days, omitting a few of the normal traditions.
In African culture, when a man wants to marry a woman, he pays what we call "lobola", or "the bride price".
This is basically his way of thanking her parents for raising her.
Its generally set at 12 cows. The value of each cow is determined by the quality of the woman he intends to marry.
So, some examples of things that would make a girl more expensive would be how well educated she is, if she comes from a good family, if she's well-brought up, and if shes a virgin.
The virginity part is a big deal.
If she lost her virginity to the man she's marrying, he's made to pay "damages" for having sex out of wedlock.
Things that would make a girl cheaper would be if she has children, if she's uneducated or if she has a questionable reputation.
My parents didn't really charge my brother-in-law for my sister's worth because it'd be too expensive.
Another reason for paying lobola is to see how ready the man is financially for marriage. The reasoning behind this is that if he can't afford to pay lobola, he won't be able to afford supporting his new family.
So that's lobola, the first step.
The man's uncles come over to the woman's house, to meet her uncles and they start the negotiations.
Taking all the above mentioned factors into account, the agree on a price. Once this has been paid to the family, the couple is considered to be married.
The second step is that we call "ukhuhlabisa wabakhonyana".
Please, dont try to pronounce that.
It's basically a celebration welcoming the new groom into the bride's family.
Traditionally, a sheep is slaughtered and you invite the bride's entire extended family over to meet the new groom.
The groom's family guys blankets for all the elders of the bride's family and these are presented to them in a traditional ceremony.
Both families are supposed to wear their traditional gear.
Once the blankets have been given to the elders, the bride's father is presented with a coat and a hat (I've no idea why) and the bride's mother with something of their tradition.
Then the groom's family calls out the bride (who is supposed to remain unseen the entire day up until this point) and present her with their traditional wear as a way of showing their acceptance of her into their family.
After that there's yet another celebration welcoming the bride into the grooms family where this entire process is repeated for the grooms side, we skipped that.
And then FINALLY theres the official marriage celebration.
Now we somehow managed to condense this entire process into 3 days, I've no idea how.
My favourite day by far was the "engagement party".
My sister wanted the best photographer so, naturally, we got the ever lovely Talamia.
The pictures came out so great!
This is our new family
My new siblings
And the happy couple
Aren't they just adorabubble?
After the wedding, my sister and brother-in-law went to Cape Town for a week and our families went on a little holiday up north.
It was unbelievably hot!!!!
But I had a great time with my new siblings, whom I happen to love very dearly.
My new sister and I got these matching bracelets.
We did a lot of hiking and saw so many beaituful places, it was mindblowing.
The natural world is such a beautiful places, it almost makes me want to cry.
This is Mapungubwe
And, my favourite, Blyde River Canyon..
I was so sad to see my new family go but I know Ill be seeing a lot of them in the very many years to come.
While we're still on the love vibes, I'd like to give you this weeks serial killer feature:
Killer Couples!!
At the beginning of my last blog, I left you all a piece of a puzzle.
I realize that some people thought I was telling you all that Im crazy but I wasn't. O.o
Anyway, here's another piece...
Personality theories: The study of personality is based on the essential insight that all people are similar in some ways, yet different in others.For example, all people learn, yet people learn different things, in different ways, and to different extents. There have been many different definitions of personality proposed. Most contemporary psychologists though would agree on the following definition:
Personality is that pattern of characteristic thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that distinguishes one person from another and that persists over time and situations.
That's it for mow.
I love you all!!
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It was so lovely meeting you, I hope we get a chance to hang out again sometime in the future. Feel free to steal any pics you like.