The
transition from childhood to adulthood, plays an important role in Ndebele culture.
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Young girlinitiates wear an impressive arrya of colourful
izigolwani, which are beaded hoops worn around legs, arms, the waist and neck. |
| Amaphephetu are the stiff rectangular aprons beaded ingeometric and
often three-dimensional patterns which are worn by girl initiates at their
"coming-out" ceremony that marks the conclusion of the initiation school in
which the girls are kept in isolation and are trained to become homemakers and matriarchs. |
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Married female quests wearing complimentary blankets and matching
berets waiting outside a house of a mother whose son is away at an initiation school or wela. |
| After passing through initiation the beaded front aprons worn by
girls give way to stiff square ones,amaphephetu, which are traditionally made
from hardene leather and adorned with beadwork. |
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On the left is an ipometi(a corruption of the word
'permit') that dates back to the 1930's. The ipometi is worn by married women
durring ceremonial occasions to demonstrate their credentials as a matron of standing in
the community. |
