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Shweshwe is traditionally used to make dresses, skirts, aprons and wraparound clothing. Shweshwe clothing is traditionally worn by newly married Xhosa women, known as makoti, and married Sotho women. [9] [10] [16] [17] Xhosa women have also incorporated the fabric into their traditional ochre-coloured blanket clothing. [7] [18]
The name of these traditional garments is umbhaco, while their cousins, the Zulus, wear animal hide (men) and colourful clothing and beads (women). They usually paint themselves prior to performing. Umxhentso is mostly performed in the Transkei homeland in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa where the tradition is still valued.
Other clothing includes beadwork and printed fabrics. Although in general, Xhosa lifestyle has been adapted to Western traditions, the Xhosa people still wear traditional attire for special cultural activities. The various tribes have their own variations of traditional dress which includes the colour of their garments and beadwork.
Customs vary between Xhosa tribes. Intonjane is one which is commonly performed by amaGcaleka. The Gcaleka practise of intonjane, which involves a number of ceremonies which speak to the rite of passage of Xhosa girls. [6] It aims to prepare girls for marriage and womanhood. Initiates take part in rituals performed by their birth families ...
Traditional clothes were worn by leaders such as Nelson Mandela, who put on a Xhosa traditional garment, in 1962 in his trial for attempting to overthrow the government. The expression of his identity as a true South African person spoke for the aggression in resistance and asking for one's won control of one's country. [ 6 ]
Inqawe is the Xhosa term for the traditional smoking pipe used among the Xhosa people.The pipes come in many variations but are mostly made from Acacia afra or ‘mnyamanzi’ which is commonly found in the Eastern Cape.
The girls wear traditional attire, including beadwork, izigege, izinculuba and imintsha that show their bottoms. [7] They also wear anklets, bracelets, necklaces, and colourful sashes. Each sash has appendages of a different colour, which denote whether or not the girl is betrothed. [8]
Special clothing is worn for special events like initiation rites and traditional healing ceremonies. For a Lebollo la basadi, or girl's initiation ceremony, girls wear a beaded waist wrap called a thethana that covers the waist, particularly the crotch area and part of the buttocks. They also wear gray blankets and goatskin skirts.