Drums are an essential part of Zulu celebrations and it is always accompanied by dancing and chanting. The ingungu drum is made of goatskin, that has been cleaned and stripped from its hair, and a black clay pot. To play it you have to position a flattened piece of reed on the drum and vibrate it with both hands. The ingungu is played to celebrate the start of a young woman's first menstruation. There are a number of dances in Zulu culture that celebrates different areas of life. The hunting dance symbolizes the bravery it requires to hunt by imitating the movements of hunters.
The dance is performed during ceremonies before warriors go out to hunt. To avoid injury sticks are used instead of spears.
The dance of the small shield is a rhythmic dance that encourages military unity and it is normally performed at royal occasions. Like many cultures, the Zulu people believe that life doesn't end with death but continues in the spiritual world. Death is seen as a person's deeper connection with all creation. Every person who dies within the Zulu tribe must be buried the traditional way. If not done the traditional way, the deceased may become a wandering spirit. Drinking and eating from the same plate was and still is a sign of friendship.
It is customary for children to eat from the same dish, usually a big basin. This derives from a "share what you have" belief which is part of Ubuntu humane philosophy.
Long ago, before the Zulu were forged as a nation, they lived as isolated family groups and partly nomadic northern Nguni groups. These groups moved about within their loosely defined territories in search of game and good grazing for their cattle. As they accumulated livestock, and supporters family leaders divided and dispersed in different directions, while still retaining family networks. The Zulu homestead imizi consisted of an extended family and others attached to the household through social obligations.
This social unit was largely self-sufficient, with responsibilities divided according to gender. Men were generally responsible for defending the homestead, caring for cattle, manufacturing and maintaining weapons and farm implements, and building dwellings. Women had domestic responsibilities and raised crops, usually grains, on land near the household.
By the late eighteenth century, a process of political consolidation among the groups was beginning to take place. A number of powerful chiefdoms began to emerge and a transformation from a pastoral society to a more organised statehood occurred. This enabled leaders to wield more authority over their own supporters and to compel allegiance from conquered chiefdoms.
Changes took place in the nature of political, social, and economic links between chiefs of these emerging power blocs and their subjects. Zulu chiefs demanded steadily increasing tribute or taxes from their subjects, acquired great wealth, commanded large armies, and, in many cases, subjugated neighbouring chiefdoms.
Military conquest allowed men to achieve status distinctions that had become increasingly important. This culminated early in the nineteenth century with the warrior-king Shaka conquering all the groups in Zululand and uniting them into a single powerful Zulu nation, that made its influence felt over southern and central Africa.
Shaka ruled from to , when he was assassinated by his brothers. Shaka recruited young men from all over the kingdom and trained them in his own novel warrior tactics. His military campaign resulted in widespread violence and displacement, and after defeating competing armies and assimilating their people, Shaka established his Zulu nation.
Within twelve years, he had forged one of the mightiest empires the African continent has ever known. The Zulu empire weakened after Shaka's death in One of the most significant events in Zulu history was the arrival of Europeans in Natal. I believe one day I will. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.
Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Notify me of new posts by email. Home » Everything you need to know about a night at a Zulu homestay. Features Stories. Khanyo and Mama Chanco. What a view! Meeting the healer in the village. Learning about the gift of healing. What fortune lies within? Getting ready for dinner! View trip. Wild Kruger Camping. Childless women are often frowned upon, and lose the status of a wife. The elderly are always treated with care and respect, and share homes with their sons.
However, he soon faced trouble from the invading British forces who delivered an ultimatum to his 11 chiefs in When Cetshwayo refused to surrender to the British demands, war broke out between the native and foreign powers, which finally ended in a Zulu defeat at the Battle of Ulundi on July 4th, In the later years, though the British reinstated Cetshwayo as king once again, it was the British who held the ultimate power over Zululand.
His son, Solomon kaDinuzulu, was never recognized as king by the South African authorities. With the end of the Zulu Kingdom, the Zulus now became second-rate citizens in their own homelands, and faced years of discrimination under the infamous apartheid movement of legalized racial segregation in South Africa, enforced by the governing National Party in the country between and They were forced to migrate to small pockets of land in a designated area for establishing their settlements, which came to be known as the KwaZulu-Natal province.
Only after much opposition and criticism by global organizations, people, and foreign governments did the Apartheid movement finally come to an end in Thereafter, multi-racial, democratic elections witnessed the the victory of Nelson Mandela, a Xhosa Thembu South African and an anti-apartheid South African revolutionary, as the country's new President.
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