© 2018 Dr Margaret Sheppard

On the day of the wedding feast the respective choirs accompany the bride or groom’s procession singing the wedding songs  when they arrive at the  respective homes. While the couple and important guests are eating the visiting choir is usually served with lunch. Members of the host choir are probably helping with serving and other tasks.

Then around 3.00 p.m. - 4.00 p.m., the choirs will gather together outside the wedding home and start to sing and dance. The bride's choir will start, and after singing and dancing a few songs, the groom's choir will take over. They will alternate like this until after sunset. Girls of the choir often dress in identical dresses, or they may wear dresses of the same colour, or wear matching head scarves. Usually girls dance at the front followed by the boys, one of whom carries a decorated branch or pole which is that choir's "flag".

As time goes on.more and more people join one or other of the choirs even if they have not been practising - both choirs will be served with refreshments or cold drink, fat cakes and scones!!

The choirs sing outside the entrance of the bride's home. The men of both families gather in the Kgotla on Kgotla chairs whilst some of the bride's ,male relatives cook the meat inside part of the kraal and serve the men with the special roasted "men's meat" (backbone).

Spectators (no one is turned away at a wedding) gather around to watch the choirs and chat and meet. The songs sung by the choirs are semi traditional.

Before white wedding dresses and veils, couples used to wear the lomipi (peritoneum) of the slaughtered beast around their necks in public, each of the couple had its own choir that sang alternately. This type of wedding therefore appears to be a modern modification.

Choir songs usually  challenge the other choir in a good natured way . For example in one wedding which I attended, the bride's choir sang a song which translated as:

"You (the other choir) are lizards, the things that hide among the bark of trees, but we ourselves are not afraid of people, and do not hide like you."

The groom's choir then answered with a song that said:

We are not afraid of you because you are not Badimo (Ancestors). Instead of that we are only afraid of our teacher (i.e.the leader of their choir)."

This light-hearted challenging is a feature of choir singing; the choirs dance and sing the songs and may accompany themselves with whistles. There is usually one girl or small group of girls who leads the singing and then the others answer or repeat the lead, in a chorus. Even the younger boys try to emulate their elders by attempting to sing in “deep” base  voices, cupping their hands into “trumpets” to amplify the sound!

These choirs often “swell” greatly when it is nearing the times when the host family will be feeding them!

The Wedding Choirs

There is one from the bride’s side and another for the groom. They have been practising during the evenings for some weeks before the weddings, at the respective homes of the bride and groom. Sometimes all the girls will dress in dresses of the same material or of the same colour. Usually there is a “lead” girl singer and then the rest join in. The boys and young men follow the girls and one will carry a “flag” often the same colour as the girls’ dresses. They sing and dance these songs. The choirs alternate and there is a friendly rivalry to outdo the other choir in singing and dancing.