Again To Please Ancestors
The eight-year-old boy who married a 61-year-
old woman on Valentine’s Day last year in a bid
to placate his ancestors repeated the ceremony
in the bride’s home town at the weekend. Sanele
Masilela is now nine and his wife, Helen
Shabangu, is 62 years old.
[like_to_read]
Yesterday’s wedding was held to introduce the
groom to the bride’s family in Bushbuckridge,
Mpumalanga.
According to an agreement between the two
families, much of last year’s formal wedding
needed to be repeated before the couple changed
into traditional gear for the second part of the
ceremony.
The traditional marriage took place in Mkhuhlu
township, where Shabangu has a home. Last
year, their white wedding was held in Mamelodi,
Pretoria, where they live separately.
Early yesterday, there were busy preparations for
the traditional ceremony as curious onlookers
gathered at Shabangu’s home.
The house was abuzz with women from the
village preparing umqombothi (beer), pap and
chakalaka. A cow was slaughtered to feed the
guests.
Shabangu’s real husband, Abel Shabangu, was
among the men who came to help to put up a
tent and three gazebos. He also bought a three-
tier wedding cake.
“I’m here to support my wife. We all want this
day to go well. Our children couldn’t come, but
they also wish us well today,” said Abel.
An aunt of the bride, Anah Khosa, said the family
was happy that the wedding had come to
Mpumalanga because they could not afford to go
to Pretoria last year.
Last year’s Valentine’s Day wedding had all the
elements of a real one: R7000 lobolo was paid
for Shabangu, who wore a white wedding gown,
and they kissed before exchanging rings and
vows. The ceremony, it was said at the time,
was not binding but merely a ritual to appease
the ancestors.
Since that white wedding, the couple have
returned to their normal lives – Sanele being just
a schoolboy and his spouse a working woman.
Before yesterday, they had not seen one another
since November.
Sanele, a Grade 4 pupil, claimed to have been
having a series of visions of his late grandfather,
which were interpreted as a sign that his
grandfather, Busy Masilela, who never married,
wanted Sanele to do so on his behalf.
Sanele’s mother, Patience Masilela, said the
wedding attracted much international media
interest last year. She said people who were not
familiar with the ritual thought the couple were
living together as husband and wife.
The young groom now lives with his elder sister
in Venda, where he attends school.
Patience said that when her son told neighbours
in Mkhuhlu that he was getting married in a
traditional ceremony, everybody pitched in with
the cooking and other arrangements.
“The ceremony moved from a small thing to a
real one – like the white wedding of a mature
man,” she said.
“Everyone who attended had been invited by
Sanele. He understands why he had to do this.
And one day, when he is older, he will choose a
girl his age to marry.
“I did whatever I could to protect him from the
ancestors. If we didn’t do this, he would have
been sick or gone crazy,” she said.
The groom’s mother said the R18000 white
wedding also attracted the interest of social
workers, who sent the boy for mental evaluation.
But, she said, they realised he was stable and
merely practising his culture.
Shabangu, a close family friend, works with
Sanele’s mother at a dumping site where they
collect material for recycling and resale. They left
Mamelodi for Mkhuhlu two weeks ago to prepare
for yesterday’s wedding .
Yesterday, a neighbour, Jane Mashaba, said
people were happy for the spirits of the
ancestors and hoped they would not trouble the
boy any longer.
Shabangu did not show any signs of age as she
danced with her bridesmaids, girls of between
four and 10 years.
Masogana A Bapedi dancers provided
entertainment and the guests drank soft drinks.
Sanele and his bride shared a bottle of Fanta
Grape.
No comments:
Post a Comment