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Many things are considered to be traditional in Black communities. African history enthusiasts and culture affiliates are always ready to attack those that they believe are not practicing their culture or tradition.
The texture of African societies has been enforced on many people as authentic and should never be challenged. The issue of widows wearing black is one of them.
In the olden days, widows were required to wear black clothes by colonial authorities so they can easily identify them. When her husband died, his wife was to wear black clothes while making post-funeral arrangements. For some reason, this is now regarded as part of the African culture yet it was only imposed on widows to restrict their freedom of movement.
Report
During the late Patrick Shai’s memorial service at the Market theater in Johannesburg yesterday, his widow, Mmasechaba Shai, took to the stand to address mourners. However, this did not sit well with culture enthusiasts who believe that she should be sitting on the mattress, mourn her husband, and not address the crowd because they consider it to be disrespectful.
To make matters worse, she has been slammed for her choices, alleged to have been planning to divorce her husband, which could be why he died by suicide. Others believe that she is happy that she lost her husband only because she reserved her tears and chose to be strong for her children.
Opinion
It will take some serious undoing for Africans to unlearn practices or customs that they too do not understand where, how, and why they came to be. People are different, every family is different. If people want to sit on the mattress, they should be allowed to, if not, then they should not be judged.
Some people practice the black rope mourning and slaughter a cow for burial. Others, on the other hand, do not slaughter a cow because they believe is a very important commodity.
In other cultures, corpses were wrapped with specific tree skin and this tree was not allowed at home except for burial purposes. This is no longer practiced but no one has been shamed for it. Why? Because culture evolves and each family has a right to do as it sees fit.
It is quite interesting that even during the apartheid era, Black people were still encouraged to practice their culture. This is the same regime that saw black consciousness as a threat. People are emotionally attached to the so-called African culture that they fight anyone who questions them. This proves that they’ve been indoctrinated to accept them.
Mmasechaba has every right to mourn her husband the way she wants without culture affiliates forcing her to do otherwise.
Content created and supplied by: Sasatjie (via Opera
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