Swazi Marriages

Swazi traditional marriages are linking of two clans as much as a union between two individuals. Because of this there is an elaborate formal preparation that takes days to complete, today marriages usually start at on a Friday and end on the Sunday afternoon. There are obviously two groups, the bride and the groom. There is a long ritual process of the brides family approaching the grooms homestead singing and chanting traditional wedding songs, demanding a beast and receiving the beast that they feast upon.

The bride puts on her father''s imposing feathered hedress , worn at the Incwala ceremony, but with one addition - a bridal veil made of red and white beads. The ceremony proceeds until the culmination when the bride''s face is covered with red ochre, a form of rusted iron or haematite with deep ritual significance. This is the key part of the ceremony because the ochre allows ancestors from the grooms family access to the bride - and in doing so she then changes clans and atkes on her husbands, name, family, affiliations and ancestors. After this the bride distributes gifts to the grooms family and the marriage is complete.