AFL1501 Assignment 04

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lOMoAR cPSD| 3013804

AFL1501-Assignment 04
African langauges (University of South Africa)

lOMoAR cPSD| 3013804

Language through an African lens- AFL1501

Student Name:

Student Number:

First Semester:
Assignment 04

Due date:
Wedding

I have observed that wedding ceremonies differ from one society to the other in most
African cultures, though the difference is not that significant. I come from Kalanga
culture which does not differ much from other Tswana cultures in Botswana. The
outstanding feature about wedding that is similar or the same is the payment of
dowry by the groom’s side.

The photos above depict a wife and husband from a Kalanga tribe who just got
married, emerging from the church after solemnisation of the marriage by a marriage
officer or pastor. The newly married wife is wearing a white wedding dress or
“lesire’in Setswana or ‘thako ye lesire’ in Kalanga language. In Botswana we call wedding ‘lenyalo’ in Setswana language. In my mother tongue
which is Kalanga, it is called ‘ndobolo’. Lenyalo or Ndobolo is a process which takes
some time to be finalised as it has many stages that need to be accomplished before
it takes off. The starting point when a man wishes to marry is that he informs his
paternal uncles of his desire