The Sunday Mail
Tendai Mbirimi – Bridal writer
November is a month despised by most wedding planners and the related business people, if they could they would have struck it off the calendar.
During this period, lobola rituals and the hosting of wedding events is regarded as taboo in Zimbabwe, which consequently brings about less business activity for the events management industry.
A quick survey by The Sunday Mail Leisure revealed that business people who lease out venues, bridal wear, chairs and tents record low business activity during the month of November.
Mrs Eunice Chiparaushe, the director of Dreams Hiring said business is generally low during this period due to the month’s cultural connotations.
“We have not booked even a single wedding for the entire month except for a few end-of-year parties for companies and graduation ceremonies,” said Mrs Chiparaushe.
Despite one’s religious background, beliefs or church denomination particularly in the face of Pentecostalism which has been spreading like wild fire of late, marriage in the month of November has remained something that most brides and grooms have refused to gamble with.
This is either due to fear of the unknown calamities which can befall the couple or fear of societal censure.
According to traditionalists, November is regarded as a sacred month in which spirits are said to be taking a rest and therefore everything linked to the departed world is not permissible.
Renowned historian, Dr Aeneas Soko Chigwedere recounts how forefathers and those who believe in the ancestral medium of worship would inform the ancestors whenever a new marriage would be taking place, thereby consecrating the union and asking the spirits to guide the couple in their marital journey.
According to Dr Chigwedere, Africans believe that spirits (midzimu, amadlozi) also “go on leave”.
The month of November is the time of the year during which spirits are culturally understood to be enjoying their purported “leave”, and no one is therefore allowed to make a supplication regarding marital issues. Spirits will be on vacation!
It is believed that no spirit will be available to listen and authenticate any unions, hence no marriage is supposed to take off.
How this came about to affect the occurrence of weddings remain indeterminate since the concept of weddings is regarded as a borrowed one. It is believed to be a Christian custom, not part of the Zimbabwean or African culture.
“Holding of weddings has nothing to do with us as Africans and the African system, this purely lakes relevance to the traditional marriage. It’s only that people take it as an extension of the African concept yekuroora, but if you look at the way that the weddings are solemnized, it is purely unAfrican,” said Dr Chigwedere.
It is believed that if one disregards the norm and goes on to marry in November, that marriage will not be recognised in the spiritual realm and will never subsist.
So as a precautionary measure, it is believed that ancient elders and chiefs enforced this custom so as to mitigate ancestral banishment, which can befall the whole community if a particular family transgresses.
Any transgressor who fails to observe this norm would face community backlash as social and economical ills such as droughts and poor cropping yields were attributable to those who profane this month.
Chief Seke of the Hwata dynasty said that this is an ageless code prescribed by God that people should have a month to rest and reflect on their past work.
“As custodians of culture, we urge citizens to uphold our cultural values so as not to dilute our identity as well as not invite calamities associated with non-observance of customs and this must not be limited to weddings only, but also to other related functions,” said Chief Seke.
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