A guests guide on what to wear to a traditional wedding
Here area few thing to consider when accepting an invitation to a traditional wedding in Limpopo
POLOKWANE – When attending traditional weddings anywhere in the world, one thing we have to be cautious of is, the tradition of the people who invite you. Make sure that you respect their culture and tradition with the clothes or shoes you wear, as sometimes it can seem or appear disrespectful towards the people who invited you.
Fashion designer, Windy Thema designs a lot of traditional attires for different cultures, she know all about what to wear and what not wear to different traditional weddings. She says in her business, she has designed more than a 1 000 traditional attires and by now she knows what is needed at different traditional weddings.
“At a Pedi traditional wedding, make sure that you wear colourful clothes. Short skirts or shorts, or dark clothes tend to be a bit rude and disrespectful at Pedi weddings. Long dresses or skirts are always the best to wear, they show respect, but remember not to out-shine the bride. Remember a doek is very important,” she said.
Tsonga weddings: “At a Tsonga wedding, the woman normally wear xibelani and miceka, while some brides would choose to wear traditional clothes, the bride usually design the material herself, along with a doek. Again all skirts and dresses should be just under the knees to show respect,” she said.
The man traditionally would wears tinjovo, however, most just wear traditional clothes in beautiful and colourful, Tsonga material.
Venda wedding: In the Venda culture, Wendy explains that traditional clothes are believed to be sacred. Women should make sure that they wear a series of beads and amulets, each of which is associated with an ancestral spirit. These are passed down through generations as sacred trust and to part with one is to risk immediate retribution from the ancestral realm. “Women normally wear a Shedo (a small square of fabric sewn onto a broad strip which hangs down in front as a small apron),” she said. She further explains that the men wear a Tsindi, a triangular piece of soft skin covering the front, passed between the legs and tied at the back, and a male will continue to wear variations of this throughout his life.
