The essence of ilobolo and Zulu traditional marriage as depicted in Nelisiwe Zulu’s literary work

Abstract

Two worlds exist, the seen and the unseen. Mortals or living beings populate the seen world and immortals or the living dead populate the unseen world. Through ilobolo (bride wealth) and traditional Zulu marriage, the two worlds are brought closer together by spilling an animal’s blood and anointing the wedded couple with bile. This is a religious offering, inviting the ancestors of the wedded couple to bless the union. Ilobolo, in the space of the Zulu marriage, therefore, becomes a spiritual undertaking, warranting a deep understanding of Afrocentrism, which informs the philosophical and theoretical framework of this article. Through the lens of Afrocentrism, this article reports interpretively on how the Zulu people perceive ilobolo and marriage as two concepts connecting the seen and unseen worlds. The blood and bile of an animal are perceived as symbolic purifiers or religious cement gluing together the two families with their ancestors for eternity, because even death cannot tear them apart. In trying to understand how ilobolo and Zulu marriage and all the customs associated with these two concepts connect the seen and unseen worlds, the article draws its data from the novel, Umshado (Marriage, Wedding Ceremony) and the play, Isiko Nelungelo (Culture and Rights). Both these literary books were written by Nelisiwe Zulu, whose style of writing is always seen as interrogating the essence of Zulu culture and how it is perceived in modern times or post-1994 democratic South Africa.