The Opelousas courier., 1898-06-11
A ZULU BRIDAL PARTY.
Picturesque Wedding Ceremony in
Savage Community.

Picturesque Wedding Ceremony in q
Savage Community.
The marriage of a well-born Zulu
woman creates as much of a sensation
among her own people as our fashion
able weddings do here, and this de-
spite the fact that she may be the
fourth or fifth spouse that her hus-
band has taken to his hearthstone.
The Zulu takes two or three days to
| get married, and if the rank of the
contracting parties is very high, this
is heightened to six or sever But
when a Zulu woman is finallymarried,
there is the end of it. There is no
gdding journey, and she settles down
quietly to a very hum-drum existence
in her husbands kraal.
If a Zulu mai wants a wife, he must
pay for her in cattle, and the payment
is made, not to the girl, but to her
father. The lover b~eglnrAtis negotia-
tons by sending some men sbh a few
cattle to his uturefather-in-laN, who,
if he is favorably isclined, takes s. If
with the visitors and comes to an I'LL
Outstanding with ther1 .RRregard to the
rest of the cattle, which must be forth
coming. It is to be feared that the
parents anxiety as to the number Of
COWS his daughterH will bring quite
outweighs any considerations of her
happiness. If satisfactory business
arrangements are agreed upon, the
day is set and both sides prepare for
it by learning new songs and new
dances. The bride collects the stock
of mats, spoons, ETC., with which she
is to begin her housekeeping;to these
are added the gift of O blanket from
her father, some cattle, perhaps, and
always an OK, which is supposed to
belong to the ancestral spirits.
Early in the morning the bride and
her party battle in the nearest stream,
after which they dress, the bride often
wearing a veil over her face, then set
out, singing and dancing, toward the
br~idegroom's kraal. The bridegroom,
his family and friends watch this
critically till their turn comes, when
he, with his "sisters, his cousins and
his aunts," try to Guido the others.
When night descends he kills a cow
aud gives it to the bride and her party,
who have not yet entered the kraal.
The poor bride wanders around the
kraal during the night, followed by
the relatives of the groom.
She is ''crying for her fathers house,
where she was we'll treated, and is
supposed to be trying to run away, and
the others to be preventing her.
The next morning the bride, sur
rounded by her party of girls, enters
the kraal, carrying a spear. One of
the girls carries a calaEash Of water
and another one beads. The bride
takes the water and throws it over her
husband and plentifully besprinkles
the rest Of the family, giving her sister
in-law a slap to show that henceforth
she is to be the mistress. Doubtless
there come many times in after years
when the Zulu wife would be glad to
repeat this part of the marriage cere-
mony.
The rites are ended by the breaking
of the spear by the bride, after which
she makes a last dash for liberty, but
is caught and brought back by a young
man appointed by the groom. II he
fails to do so the disgrace is oaly
wiped away by the further gift of a
cow to the girls father. The couple
are O married, and, we hope, live
happily ave. after.