21st Zulu Birthday Party

This past week, I wasn’t feeling so great, so I was not as excited as I should have been to attend the traditional 21^st birthday party of a distant female cousin in the next village over. But it was also one of those events that I felt like I would regret missing. So, I asked two of the other volunteers in my area if they wanted to spend Friday night at my house, wake up on Saturday and attend the party with me and a few members of my host family, stay Saturday night, and then head home on Sunday. Knowing that I would have company would make it a little more manageable, and deep down, we all love a good Zulu function. They said, “Absolutely, we’ll be there.”

The group travels from my village to the next village.

On Friday we met in town and then headed back to my village. And then on Saturday morning, we were ready to go, as requested, at 10am. Which meant that we left my house at 11am to walk over the hill to my uncle’s house, where we waited until about noon to walk with a group of about 40-50 others. The destination was a distant relative’s home the next village over, about a 60-minute walk through the fields. Probably more like a 40-minute walk, but we stopped a few times to do some traditional Zulu chants and the like. All part of the experience.

Like many things in today’s Zulu culture, you can mark your 21^st birthday with a traditional or a modern celebration. My host sister, Zama, celebrated her 21^st birthday a few years ago with a modern-style function, but yesterday’s event was a strictly traditional ‘umemulo.’ For two days before, all the girls in the village stayed with the birthday girl, basically having a 48-hour party. My host sisters kept telling me that there was lots of dancing, but I have a feeling there were other things involved as well. Then, on the morning of the function, they all went down to the river to bath and dress the birthday girl in a special ‘umhlwehlwe’ (which happens to be the skin of a cow.) A female cow was slaughtered and the skin fashioned into skirt and vest to be worn only at this ceremony, as the outfit will be burned not long after it is over.

Drinking 'umqombothi' before the ceremony.

During the time the girls were at the river, family and other guests (including my friends and I) made their way to the house. Hence the reason we weren’t in any rush to get there. When our group arrived, the guest of honor was not yet present, so we just waited around trying our best to mingle with the hundred or so other people that were waiting with us. The most common activity during this waiting period was drinking ‘umqombothi,’ homemade Zulu beer; not really a big surprise. It wasn’t long before there was a bit of a stir among the crowd, and we realized the birthday girl was making her way into the yard. 

Traditional Zulu dancing at the ceremony.

The rest of the afternoon’s ceremony consisted traditional Zulu dancing and singing. Families formed a few scattered lines of people in a large grassy area and then marched forward as a group with the birthday girl in the lead. On occasion we saw a lone, fairly intoxicated gogo (aka grandmother) dancing off to the side, a bottle of Jameson in hand. But most everyone else seemed to stick to the group effort. The girl was wearing a hat that held money if people handed her cash. For some reason, she was also carrying an umbrella with money taped to it at one point – not sure about the meaning of this, but I can only assume it had something to do with “making it rain,” haha. The traditional Zulu gifts of blankets, basins, and small clothing items, were piled up during the dancing and then whisked away into the family’s abode.

The birthday girl with her money umbrella.

Gogo has her own dance to do.

The tent for special guests.

After the traditional singing and dancing finished, special guests (including my friends and I) were ushered into a large outdoor tent where they were served a traditional Zulu meal. The tent was decorated quite lavishly, and on the table in the front sat an extremely large sheet cake wishing the girl a Happy Birthday. Did I mention that this whole thing does not actually happen on the birthday of the person, or even in the same month? It more or less happens on a date to be determined by the family at some point during the year that the person is 21-years-old. An interesting twist.

The birthday cake.

For our part, we had a great time. The dancing and singing started to get a little repetitive, and after about an hour of it, actually got pretty boring (although gogo certainly spiced things up), but it was a beautiful day, so we enjoyed being outdoors. After we ate, and the celebration moved into the evening hours, we knew it was time for us to go. For starters, people began to take pictures, and they all seemed to want a picture with us, which got a bit annoying. More importantly though, being out in the village after dark, let alone a village that wasn’t any of ours, is not a wise move. Happily, the family had arranged transport vehicles to take us back to my village, unfortunately it did not exactly take us to the door of my house. Luckily, one of the Zulus we were with had a torch (aka a flashlight) to help guide us home from the road. When we got back inside my house, we agreed it was a great event but would have been tough to be at without an American or two as company. It’s a good thing that deep down, we all love a good Zulu function.