Especialidades JA/Tradición africana/Respuestas

Folclore Africano
Asociación General Artes y Habilidades Manuales	Destreza: 1 Año de introducción: 2001

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|Initiation ceremony =Boys between the ages of 16-18 were taken to an isolated area and housed in grass huts. During their stay, no one was allowed to see them other than a small group of older women who were there to give them food and watch over them. The boys are given a small item of clothing, which is the only thing they were prior to their circumcision. After the circumcision, they are given a new set of clothing made from leather, and return to their village where they are considered to have entered manhood.

The initiation ceremony for girls began as soon as she began menstruation. She would gather the roots of a certain shrub and use it to make a porridge which she would eat exclusively for seven days. During this time, and for the enxt three months or so, she was confined to her mother's hut. During this time she was to learn to perform several tasks expected of women, including basket weaving and making beaded clothing. She was allowed to have one friend come and stay with her during this time. She was not allowed to be seen by anyone other than her mother and this friend. Her sisters would make her a new outfit from twisted grass, and at the end of the three months, she would put this on, be presented to the village, and she and her friend and sisters would dance and sing, celebrating the end of her initiation. On the following day, the grass outfit would be burned, signifying that the girl had become a woman.

|Shamans = Inyanga (literally "the man of the trees") is a Zulu word for a traditional healer.

Although the word sangoma is generally used in South African English to mean all types of traditional Southern African healers, inyangas and sangomas are in fact different. An inyanga is an herbalist who is concerned with medicines made from plants and animals, while a sangoma relies primarily on divination for healing purposes. The knowledge of the inyanga is passed through the generations from parent to child.

In modern society the status of these medicine men or women has been translated into wealth. Most izinyanga (plural of inyanga) in urban areas have shops with consulting rooms where they sell their medicines.

|Living conditions = The modern Zulu population is fairly evenly distributed in both urban and rural areas. Although KwaZulu-Natal is still their heartland, large numbers have been attracted to the relative economic prosperity of Gauteng province.

|Religion=Most Zulu people state their beliefs to be Christian. Some of the most common churches to which they belong are African Initiated Churches, especially the Zion Christian Church and various Apostolic Churches, although membership of major European Churches, such as the Dutch Reformed, Anglican and Catholic Churches is also common. Nevertheless, many Zulus retain their traditional pre-Christian belief system of ancestor worship in parallel with their Christianity.