The process of securing a wife varies from place to place around the world. While some parts of the world require wives who are quite moral, abstaining from pre-marital sexual intercourse or alcohol and drugs, things are slightly different in this South African tribe.
The Sotho tribe (South Sotho or Basotho) is one of the largest and most important tribes in South Africa with a population of approximately 8 million.
It is the tribe which has won the INDONİ the most, a competition which is held every year in the Miss Cultural contest, where virgin girls participate and show their dance moves called reed dance.
The dances from Sotho girls are so impressive that they have won this contest 28 times. The Sotho tribe specializes in blacksmithing and they boast about it very much. They tell their stories with this blacksmithing of Sotho dances.
Polygamy is common in the Sotho tribe. Every man has 4 or 5 wives, each of whom lives in separate houses. Their economy is based on agriculture and animal husbandry.
When a Sotho man is going to marry, the girl’s family wants a large amount of title money, so marriage for men is very costly. In this tribe girls and boys give importance to dressing. Girls wear clothes made of banana fibre and beads called Letsopa.
They are more specialized in alcohol production than other African tribes. In fact, they produce a drink called jwala, which is known only to them.
During the dance, which they call the alcohol reed dance, the virgin girls consume a large amount and are drunk of love. Their intention with this is to position themselves as the typical wife-to-be for a Sotho man.
Sotho people are concentrated in the Free State, Gauteng and Eastern Cape Provinces in South Africa, with small groups in Namibia and Zambia.
Early Sotho origins and history are largely unknown, but oral tradition has it that the founding lineage knew the art of smelting and ancient ritual dances are associated with it.
