The Sunday Mail
Desire Ncube
Most faiths in Zimbabweans seem to shun African traditional beliefs yet they still consider the month of November as sacred — a popular traditional belief.
While there might not be active involvement in rituals of observing November’s sacredness, the fact that less marriages and weddings take place during this month speaks volumes about the different faiths’ reverence to the month.
Traditionally, ceremonies such as weddings, lobola paying, biras and kurova makuva are regarded as taboo during November.
It is claimed that during the month, everything with links to the spiritual and ancestors temporarily ceases to function.
This then means that if one decided to wed in November, he or she does not get to have the blessings from the spiritual world.
Church leaders and social commentators who spoke to The Sunday Mail Religion expressed mixed feelings over the subject.
Udaciza secretary general, Reverend Edison Tsvakai said although their faith is deeply rooted in Christianity, it is very hard to separate Africans and African beliefs.
“As a church we don’t have laws which says we must observe the month of November, as you know tiri vanhu vakabva muchivanhu and so it is very difficult to abandon such practices.
“We cannot deny the fact that some among us distantly follow these practices, this is mainly because we are Africans.
“The other explanation is the influence of relatives. When paying the bride price, you cannot say I will go and pay my bride price on my own. You need family members but these family members hold different religions. If they view November as a ‘holy’ month then they will definitely not attend. So sometimes we are forced by our relatives to comply to some of these laws,” he added.
University of Zimbabwe Social Science lecturer, Professor Marvelous Mhloyi said people have a problem of mixing culture and the word of God.
“Basically people have a problem of mixing culture and the Bible. It shows that their faith is still shallow.
“There is nowhere in the Bible where it is written that November is a sacred month so we wonder where people (Christians) are getting it.
“It’s not a sin to do whatever you want to do in November.
‘‘There is no month that should be considered holier than the other,” she said. Prof Mhoyi added: “This again is clear evidence that most of our Christians need education about the word of God as they still believe in traditional practices and myths.
“People should know that there are many problems in marriages but they should not fear that if they marry in November their marriages will have problems.
“Can we then say all these marriages that are not going on well are November marriages? A big no! It is God who mend marriages, not traditional laws,” she said.
Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe general secretary, Reverend Lindani Dube said Christians and especially evangelicals should not be bound by such laws. “Christianity is centred on Christ, we have the supra culture governed by the Bible and it has two categories, the New and the Old Testament.
“As evangelicals we have no other culture hence we do not believe in the sacredness of the month of November,” Rev Dube said.
Supreme Council of the Islamic Affairs in Zimbabwe, Sheik Ishail Duwa said local Muslims do not consider the month of November as sacred.
“Muslims use the lunar calendar and there is no such month as November in our calendar. How then can we observe a month that does not exist in our calendar? Our days do not even correspond,” he said.
“Muslims are free to marry anytime of the year. In fact, the Quran says if people are in love don’t delay to wed them because if you do you will force them to indulge in fornication.
“If November was indeed sacred, people could not have been born in it and again people would not die in it. As long as people are being born in November, we should treat it as a normal month,” added Sheikh Duwa.
Traditionalists however, believe that November is sacred.
They attribute unfavourable weather conditions, droughts and mystical occurrences as some of the bad results of not respecting November’s sacredness.
