Have you heard about some of the crazy traditions that happen in Africa? Before we proceed, let’s clarify one thing: Africa is not a country. In fact, it is the second-largest continent. Her customs are well ingrained in African society as a whole. They express themselves via many artistic mediums, including dance, music, sculpting, art, and beadwork. We have highlighted some of these practices. See a few of them below:
1. Hamar’s Bull-Jumping
Ethiopia has a pastoralist community called Hamar. This tribe is famed for its livestock riches and physically demanding initiation ceremony. For the sake of his dignity and the dignity of his family, a boy must go through this rite of passage before being permitted to marry. Boys must take part in a three-day initiation process that includes bull jumping. Do you believe you are mature enough to start seeing that woman?
How does jumping some of these bulls while unclothed reward this? To make the exercise more challenging, 15 castrated bulls are covered in manure. The initiate is then forced to run and jump over those bulls while entirely naked, and they must not fail. If he fails, he must wait a full year before being allowed to attempt again. If he is successful, he will be permitted to wed the woman of his parent’s choosing. It implies that he may now rear his cattle and children.
2. Stealing Wives in The Wodaabe
The Woodaabe tribe of Niger engages in unsettling wife exchanging, which most people would characterize as wife snatching. This is a true story, not a gamification or a fabricated tale. How do they do it? Their parents arrange their first union when they are still quite young. Typically, these unions involve cousins from the same family. Then comes the annual celebrations, during which the Wodaabe males wear their finest clothes, dance, and try to get a new wife. If one can take a wife without being discovered, they gain social recognition.
3.Festival of the Dead in Chewa
Located in Malawi, the Chewa are a Bantu tribe. When a tribal member passes away, they wash their bodies through tradition. The body is subsequently brought to a holy location for a purification ceremony. To clean, the throat must be cut, and the corpse must then have water poured through it. Until the water is clean, it is passed through. After that, it is gathered to prepare a feast for the entire community.
4.Receive a Beating to Marry
The Fulani tribe in Nigeria is well known for this traditional practice. The Fulani are a pastoralist, semi-nomadic ethnic group. It is done before marriage and is known as Sharo. It entails older community members severely beating the groom. He gains esteem and approval to obtain the woman as a result. The marriage is canceled if the groom cannot endure the flogging’s pain. Even worse, the dowry payment is refundable. Would you endure abuse to obtain a wife? Is this a system designed to treat a wife properly?
5. The Banyankole’s Potency Test
While people get married for many reasons, the Banyankole’s tribe in Uganda offers you something different. Before you can marry in this tribe, you have to sleep with the bride’s aunty. The ritual is to ensure that you are potent to marry the niece and also she will test her niece for virginity . Without the capacity to time travel, have fun trying to understand all these tribal customs!
6.San’s Healing Dance
Of all these tribal traditional activities from Africa, this one is undoubtedly the most magical. An ethnic group known as the San exists in Namibia, South Africa, Botswana, and Angola. They view dance as having a holy force. The community performs the healing dance to cast out physical ailments and bad energies like hatred and jealousy. Elders from the village lead the dancing around the fire as everyone congregates there for the night.
They chant during the dance to bring on “superpowers. They can then “walk over the fire” and access the spirit realms. According to recent ceremonies done by groups in Kenya, the San community is not the only one that practices such rites. Communities in Kenya reportedly held rituals to drive the Covid-19 epidemic from their areas.
