Swaziland

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Swaziland

POPULATION 1,123,605
CHRISTIAN 66 percent
SWAZI TRADITIONAL RELIGION 33 percent
OTHER (BAHA'I AND MUSLIM) 1 percent

Country Overview

INTRODUCTION

The Kingdom of Swaziland, a small, landlocked country in southern Africa, shares its eastern border with Mozambique and its northern, western, and southern borders with South Africa. The terrain consists of mountains and hills with some sloping plains. Subsistence farming occupies more than 80 percent of the inhabitants, though only 10 percent of the land is arable, and drought is a chronic problem. About 90 percent of Swaziland's imports come from South Africa, and nearly 75 percent of its exports go there. Mbabane is the capital, though Lobamba is the royal and legislative center.

Founded by King Sobhuza I (Somhlolo; ruled from 1818–36), a leader of the Dlamini ruling clan, and consolidated by King Mswati II (ruled from 1839–65), after whom the Swazi were named, Swaziland is ruled by dual monarchs, the king and his mother (the senior queen), who are recognized not only as heads of state but as symbols and representatives of Swazi culture, religion, and national identity.

Western missionary evangelism (which began in 1845) and British colonial rule (1903–68) greatly undermined the sovereignty and influence of the Swazi monarchy, who nevertheless welcomed European and American Christian missionaries into the country and permitted them to evangelize freely among the Swazi. Although they commended Christianity to the Swazi, most of whom converted, the king and queen mother resisted formal conversion. They retained the roles of high priest and priestess of Swazi religion but by 1937 had added new roles as patrons and defenders of Swazi Indigenous Churches.

When Swaziland regained its political independence in 1968, it adopted a democratic, British-style constitutional monarchy in which the king and queen played merely ceremonial roles. In 1973, however, King Sobhuza II (1921–82) repealed the liberal constitution on the grounds that it was incompatible with the Swazi way of life and that it engendered hostility, bitterness, and social unrest in the country. The nonparty Tinkhundla system of government introduced in 1978 gives the monarchy supreme legislative, executive, and judicial powers. Many Swazi have openly criticized the system through civil disobedience, mass demonstrations, public statements, pastoral letters and sermons, and boycotts of national elections and other state-sponsored commissions.

Swaziland is home to a small number of Muslims and members of the Baha'i faith.

RELIGIOUS TOLERANCE

The 1968 Swazi Constitution provides for freedom of belief, worship, and membership. Relations between the state and religions have been complex and inconsistent, however. The state might enjoin all Swazi to participate in indigenous rituals and simultaneously urge all Swazi to attend specific Christian ceremonies. Only Christian churches are allowed to proselytize over national radio and television stations, and Christian prayers are said in public schools and offices and at national ceremonies. Opponents of absolute monarchical rule have enjoyed the covert and overt ideological support of the older mission churches—the Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, and Methodist Churches.

Major Religions

CHRISTIANITY

SWAZI TRADITIONAL RELIGION

CHRISTIANITY

DATE OF ORIGIN 1845
NUMBER OF FOLLOWERS 742,000

HISTORY

The first Christian mission station in Swaziland was established by the Methodist Church in 1845 at the invitation of King Mswati II. Because of the diplomatic, nonviolent policy of the Swazi monarchy toward Europeans in general, Christian mission churches had flooded the country by 1900, each with its own following of Swazi converts. The main Christian missions with permanent stations included the Anglican Mission (1860), the Lutheran Church (1887), the South African General Mission (1890), the Scandinavian Evangelical Alliance (1894), the Church of the Nazarene (1910), and the Roman Catholic Church (1914).

By 1907 Europeans owned close to 66 percent of Swaziland. Commoners and women, especially, turned to missionaries and mission stations for social, economic, and political support. Thus, the missionaries, with the help of the British colonial administration, tacitly compromised the position of the monarchs by taking over their role as landowners, leaders, benefactors, employers, educators, and religious advisors to the Swazi.

The country's geographical proximity to South Africa, where African Indigenous Christianity is strong, explains the religion's rapid growth in Swaziland. Cross-fertilization between indigenous Swazi religion and Christianity, though weakening Swazi religion, has also helped it survive.

EARLY AND MODERN LEADERS

Dr. David Hynd (1899–1991), a founder-missionary and medical doctor, is the historical leader of evangelical Christianity in Swaziland. Under the auspices of the Church of the Nazarene (established in 1910), Hynd contributed to the creation of numerous churches and several mission stations in the country, placing the Church of the Nazarene and other Swazi evangelical churches at the head of influential nongovernmental organizations that spearheaded social development. In 1912 Hynd founded the Swaziland Conference of Churches (SCC), an association of conservative evangelical churches that combine an otherworldly and individualistic piety with a negative attitude toward traditional Swazi beliefs and traditions.

Bishop Stephen Mavimbela (1860–1948), a leader of the indigenous Swazi Christian Church in Zion, was the first vice-president of the League of African Churches in Swaziland (LACS), an association of African independent churches formed in 1937 whose main patrons are the king and queen mother. Mavimbela helped promote a distinctively African Christianity unequivocally identified with the dominant values, beliefs, and traditions relating to Swazi culture and the institution of sacred kingship. LACS was the antithesis of the colonial evangelism pioneered by Hynd.

Catholic Bishop Ambrose Mandlenkosi Zwane (1932–80) was the first president of the Council of Swaziland Churches (CSC), an association of ecumenical churches (including the Catholic, Anglican, Methodist, and Lutheran Churches) that broke away from the SCC in 1975 because of conflicts over doctrinal, moral, and political issues. Zwane helped form a vibrant non-governmental organization that has focused on socioeconomic progress and other political concerns, including advocacy for women's rights.

MAJOR THEOLOGIANS AND AUTHORS

Bishop Zwane, one of the few influential Swazi Christian theologians whose writings were compiled in a book, supported the inherent dignity of every human being. He believed that the mandate of the Church was to protect humanity from unjust laws and social structures, evil customs, and oppressive religious practices, and he fought for social justice in Church and society. A committed and practicing ecumenist, Zwane was described as "a man for all people."

HOUSES OF WORSHIP AND HOLY PLACES

Christian denominations belonging to the SCC and the CSC worship in permanent church buildings. Most of the churches belonging to LACS hold worship services at the residence of the pastor or bishop. Made of cement bricks and corrugated iron sheets, these house-churches accommodate small-scale Christian communities at the local level. Church leaders identify worship locations by hanging out sashes in the official colors of the church uniforms worn by the members.

WHAT IS SACRED?

Most Swazi Christians revere the Bible, the Holy Cross, church buildings and cathedrals, the altar, portraits and sculptures of Jesus Christ, clerical attire, and church uniforms.

HOLIDAYS AND FESTIVALS

During the Good Friday Festival, founded in 1937 by leaders of African Indigenous Churches in consultation with King Sobhuza II, Swazis celebrate Easter with the king, the queen mother, and the nation at large at the queen mother's residence at Ludzidzini, the ritual capital of Swaziland. The evan-gelicals' Somhlolo Festival of Praise, founded in 1987, celebrates King Somhlolo's success in bringing Christianity to Swaziland. Swazi royalty and government representatives actively participate each July at a celebration hosted by the queen mother.

MODE OF DRESS

Many Christian denominations have designed special church attire for their members. Some of the older mission churches—the Methodist, Anglican, and Catholic Churches and the Church of the Nazarene—require all or some of their full (baptized) members to wear church uniform on special occasions. During the annual Easter Convention, for example, male Methodists must wear a black blazer, a black tie, and black shoes; a white shirt; a red waistcoat; and gray trousers. Women wear a red jacket with a white collar; a black skirt, black shoes, and black stockings; and a white cap.

Swazi African Indigenous Churches require full members to wear church attire at all times. Church regalia is considered sacred: It is dedicated to God and must be blessed by the clergy prior to use. Male attire includes a blue or green coat with a woolen belt, a white shirt, and white trousers. Women wear a white dress, a blue or green apron and woolen belt, and a white or blue-green head scarf. Male members of the "Red-gown" Zionists wear a gown of yellow and either maroon or red, a woolen yellow and red sash on the forehead, and khaki or dark trousers. Women wear a red or yellow dress with a yellow woolen belt, as well as a scarf of red and either green or yellow.

DIETARY PRACTICES

Swazi Christianity does not pre-scribe a particular diet, but many Christian celebrations involve the slaughtering of cattle, goats, and chickens to feed the congregations.

RITUALS

Besides baptism, the Eucharist, and the Sunday worship service, there are four main rituals common among Christian in Swaziland.

Imvuselelo, or revival worship services, attract multitudes of Christians from different denominations. Prevalent in conservative evangelical churches and normally held in a church every evening for a week, these services are intended to rekindle and revitalize Christian piety and to win new converts to the church. The revivals are led by prominent and articulate preachers (many of them faith healers) from southern African countries, including South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Kenya. A typical revival service is characterized by singing, a passionate sermon, an altar call, prayers for forgiveness of sins, and healings accomplished through the laying on of hands.

An Umlindzelo, or a funeral night vigil, is an interdenominational worship service held in honour of the deceased. Since funeral rites normally take place at around 6 a.m., it has become customary for the bereaved family to arrange an all-night prayer service for the mourners, many of whom may have traveled long distances to attend. Mourners at a night vigil gather in a tent pitched in the deceased's family compound and are served maize meal porridge and meat from a cow or ox slaughtered for the occasion. A lengthy worship follows, during which people sing and extol the virtues (especially the Christian commitments) of the deceased. The service ends at dawn, when a formal funeral service begins, normally conducted by an ordained minister. A celebratory meal follows the burial rites.

Inkonzo Yentsaba (literally, "the Service on the Mountain"), or the Women's Prayer Service for Rain, is an interdenominational worship held in late September or early October at the Swazi National Church, situated next the queen mother's residence. During the twoday ceremony women from different regions of the country embark on a period of sustained fasting and prayer, beseeching God to provide rain and fertility in the coming year.

Lunchtime prayer sessions normally take place at selected government offices or other convenient open spaces in urban centers. Groups of Christians, mostly Pentecostal women, gather to sing and praise the Lord; to proclaim a gospel of individual salvation, material prosperity, peace of mind, and contentment regardless of one's Christian affiliation; and to draw new converts.

RITES OF PASSAGE

The ecumenical churches in Swaziland mark the birth of a child through infant baptism, while conservative evangelical churches dedicate the child to God at a special Sunday service. The child is received as God's gift, and the congregation is enjoined to provide life-long moral and spiritual support to him or her. Puberty is celebrated through adult baptism in conservative evangelical churches, while ecumenical churches celebrate the rite of confirmation. Concurrent with the transition from childhood to responsible adulthood, the Christian in both cases must affirm a commitment to Christ and the church publicly. At a Christian wedding ceremony, conducted by an ordained clergy and witnessed by the given Christian church, the groom and the bride make a public promise to lead their married lives in conformity with Christian teachings. The wedding usually ends with a celebratory meal. Though most Swazi Christians fear and resent death, the Christian funeral ritual is meant to celebrate the final liberation of the soul from worldly problems, including want, sickness, and death.

MEMBERSHIP

Christianity in Swaziland has always sought to convert all persons belonging to other religions. With the establishment of a state-controlled radio broadcasting service in the 1960s and a state-run television channel in the 1980s, both of which allocate ample air-time to Christian programs and exclude the newer religions, the Christian faith has gradually assumed the status of a traditional religion to many Swazi. Most Christian churches use radio, television, and the press to spread their influence.

SOCIAL JUSTICE

Conversion to Christianity in Swaziland was historically linked to a good education, a professional career, a good income, and an awareness of basic human rights. Swazi Christianity has pioneered the ideal of universal education, and most Christian churches (including Swazi Indigenous Churches) support education as a means of alleviating poverty. The Anglican and Catholic Churches have established permanent organizations and institutions to help the needy, including vocational schools, refugee centers, and homes for people with AIDS. Almost one-third of Swaziland's adult population is infected with HIV.

SOCIAL ASPECTS

Most Christian churches in Swaziland oppose divorce and support marriage as a life-long, monogamous commitment between a man and woman. The churches frown on homosexuality, which is illegal in Swaziland. All denominations condemn sexual activity outside of marriage. Christians are expected to procreate, and the prevention of pregnancy is regarded as ungodly. The mainline churches proscribe the use of pills, condoms, and abortion as contraceptives. Children are regarded as gifts from God to be nurtured and cared for.

POLITICAL IMPACT

The overwhelming majority of those who have held important, responsible political positions in Swaziland have been educated and trained in Church-sponsored schools and colleges. Graduates from mission-run schools tend to espouse social justice, democracy, and the protection and promotion of basic human rights. The Ngwane National Liberation Congress, the oldest political organization in the country and one of the most influential, has been supported mainly by graduates from mission schools. It and the People's United Democratic Movement are led by members of the older ecumenical churches—Catholic, Anglican, and Methodist. The two parties have challenged the legitimacy of the monarchy's power over parliament, the cabinet, and the judiciary. They advocate a return to the 1968 Independence constitution that restricted the monarchy's role.

CONTROVERSIAL ISSUES

The doctrine of divine kingship presupposes that the dual monarchs are patrons of all established religions in the country, including Christianity. The Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, and Methodist churches have challenged this presumed royal authority by not sending delegates to national Christian conventions and ceremonies in which the monarchy assumed the role of Christian leaders.

The most controversial subject among Swazi Christians is the relationship between Christianity and certain aspects of Swazi culture and religion seen as inimical to Christian faith and practice. Most if not all evangelical churches belonging to the SCC see ancestral veneration, consultation of diviners and herbalists, participation in national royal rituals, polygyny, and cumbersome mourning customs and taboos that limit the freedom of widows as problematic. Overt and systematic condemnation of traditional practices, however, may be interpreted as a castigation of the sacred monarchy itself, because the monarchy embodies and promotes Swazi indigenous religion. The liberal, indigenous, and independent churches want to support Swazi indigenous beliefs, values, and rituals that promote the common good, provided they do not compromise the Christian faith.

CULTURAL IMPACT

Christianity's impact on Swazi architecture can be seen in various church buildings, both rural and urban. Styles include simple rectangular brick houses with corrugated iron roofs, small and large medieval-style stone buildings, and modern, spacious churches and cathedrals. Paintings of Christ and his disciples decorate many Swazi homes. Popular Christian literature, especially vernacular copies of the Bible, can also be found in the average Swazi home.

Swazi Christian churches, especially conservative evangelical churches, have contributed above all to the development and proliferation of popular Christian music. Many Swazi enjoy gospel music at concerts, fund-raising functions, and music festivals. The abundance of newly released cassettes, compact discs, and videos by Swazi and South African gospel artists attests to gospel's vitality as an industry.

SWAZI TRADITIONAL RELIGION

DATE OF ORIGIN c. 1800 c.e.
NUMBER OF FOLLOWERS 371,000

HISTORY

Swazi religion is made up of several religious traditions drawn from the main clans and ethnic groups (including Tonga, Nguni, and Sotho) that merged to form the Swazi nation in the nineteenth century. A synthesis of Nguni and Tonga kingship traditions gave rise to a unique idea of sacred kingship, in which dual monarchs (the king and his mother, a tradition borrowed from the Sotho) function as both secular and sacred personages.

The first Swazi king, Sobhuza I (Somhlolo), assumed such religious duties as the national priesthood (the dual monarchs serve as intermediaries between the Swazi and the ancestors, relaying messages and prayers and receiving dreams and guidance) and the prestigious job of rainmaking (before the Swazi state existed, rain-making was the preserve of the Mnisi and Magagula clans).

The core values of Swazi religion include ancestral veneration, protection of virginity before marriage, chastity, polygamy, permanence of marriage, resourcefulness, altruism, respect for seniority, obedience to civil authorities, patriotism, and life after death. The ancestors (emadloti) have power and influence over the living, promoting the good of their relatives and regulating their behavior. In their invisible spiritual world the ancestors retain their earthly gender, rank, status, and obligations; thus family ancestors are expected to protect the earthly interests of their kin, while royal ancestors guard the interests of the nation, including security, peace, and progress.

EARLY AND MODERN LEADERS

All former Swazi kings, queen mothers, and queen regents are historical leaders of Swazi religion. The most prominent include King Sobhuza I (ruled from 1818–36), King Mswati II (ruled from 1839–65), Queen Regent Gwamile (ruled from 1889–1921), King Sobhuza II (ruled from 1921–82), Queen Mother Lomawa (ruled from 1921–38), Queen Mother Ntombi (began rule in 1984), and King Mswati III (began rule in 1986).

King Sobhuza II successfully affirmed and defended Swazi traditional religion while welcoming education, Christianity, and other beneficial elements of modernity. An astute conservative leader, he firmly believed in the viability of cultural and religious pluralism. The governor of Ludzidzini Royal Capital Residence, Jim Gama (took office in 2001), who works closely with the queen mother and serves as the country's prime minister, is also a prominent contemporary leader of Swazi religion.

MAJOR THEOLOGIANS AND AUTHORS

Dr. J.S.M Matsebula, a Swazi historian, highlighted the impact of the ancestral cult and sacred kingship on the foreign policy of the kingdom during and after the colonial era. He contended that the country's policy toward European colonialists was shaped by a dream King Somhlolo had about the arrival of Europeans in Swaziland. Interpreted primarily as a warning emanating from the royal ancestors, the dream advised Somhlolo to welcome the Europeans and accept their knowledge but receive their money with caution. Somhlolo warned the Swazi against fighting the Europeans, saying resistance would lead to annihilation. Swazi rulers and politicians took Somhlolo's advice seriously and used the dream to justify nonviolence, tolerance, and peaceful coexistence with European traders, farmers, missionaries, and colonial administrators.

HOUSES OF WORSHIP AND HOLY PLACES

The Sibaya, or cattle byre (pen), is the most prominent feature of an average traditional homestead and is constructed on its eastern boundary. The family Sibaya is the sacred social space in which Swazi communicate with their ancestors; also, a marriage is only valid after certain rituals are performed in the groom's family cattle byre. The royal cattle byre at the queen mother's residence is a national shrine used to invoke the royal ancestors. All major Swazi national rituals and crucial meetings take place at the Ludzidzini royal cattle pen.

The KaGogo (ancestral hut; literally "grandmother's hut") is the central sacred space in every homestead. Family ancestors are affectionately called boGo-Go-Mkhulu (great grandmothers), regardless of their sex. A distinctive, thatched-roofed hut, the KaGogo is reserved for a variety of family rituals, including birth rituals, thanksgiving feasts in honor of the ancestors, and crucial family and clan meetings. The national ancestral hut (the Indlunkhulu, or "great hut") at the queen mother's residence is used for such national rituals as the Incwala ritual of kingship.

The emadliza (family graveyard), historically part of the homestead but situated a distance from the main huts, is also treated with reverence. The graves are laid out according to seniority, status, and blood relations. Family members visit the graveyard to pray, report, or submit family concerns, requests, or complaints to the ancestors. Community cemeteries have replaced most family graveyards because of space limitations and modern pressures, but their sacredness remains intact. Royal graveyards, usually caves in sacred mountains, are visited only by members of the royal family.

WHAT IS SACRED?

The favorite sacrificial animal in Swazi religion is the goat, slaughtered to solicit the blessings of family ancestors. White goats are sacrificed in gratitude for good luck and success; black goats are used to ask for alleviation of misfortune or when in mourning; and variegated goats are used for a variety of occasions, including thanksgiving feasts to honor the ancestors, marriage ceremonies, diviners' graduation ceremonies, healing rituals, and funerals.

During such national ceremonies as the Incwala, cattle from a sacred sacrificial herd (the Imfukwana; many live and roam around the sacred Mdzimba mountains) are offered to the ancestors. Preparations for the Incwala also include construction of the temporary Inhlambelo Shrine inside the royal cattle byre using the lusekwane, a sacred evergreen shrub with leafy branches. During the ceremony a number of strong young men capture and kill a semiwild Inkunzi Lemnyama (viewed as a sacred black bull; actually a black ox selected from the sacred herd) with their bare hands for ritual use in the shrine.

HOLIDAYS AND FESTIVALS

In the mid-1800s King Mswati II transformed a traditional celebration of the first fruits of summer into the Incwala ritual of sacred kingship. A solemn, elaborate, month-long thanksgiving ceremony and festival held in December to coincide with the summer solstice, the Incwala solicits the blessings of the national ancestors on the king and the harvest. All Swazi are expected to participate in the dance, wearing their indigenous Incwala attire. The main actors are members of Swazi royalty, male regimental groups (emabutfo) representing all key regions of the country, and the king, who is ritually fortified and strengthened on behalf of the nation. He ushers in the new year by biting the first fruits of the summer harvest.

The Umhlanga (Reed Dance) is a four-day ceremony held in August or September. To pay tribute to the queen mother, approximately 5,000 young, unmarried women from all regions of the country walk about 40 kilometers to collect fresh reeds, carry the heavy bundles to Ludzidzini, deliver them to the queen mother to use as a windbreak, and sing and dance before her, the king, and more than 10,000 spectators. On behalf of the nation, the king demonstrates his appreciation by performing a giya dance and placing his cow shield before each regimental group. The festival promotes such dominant cultural values as virginity, resourcefulness, social responsibility, and loyalty to the monarchy.

The Butimba (royal hunt) is a winter festival held in July or August each year (depending on the availability of game) at Hlane Game Reserve, the country's biggest animal park and reserve. After petitioning the ancestors to guide, protect, and bestow good fortune on them, the emabutfo march about one hundred kilometers in three days to reach the game park. The men are armed with special fighting sticks and spears, while the King and his guests (usually including the Zulu King, Zwelithini) hunt with rifles. The spoils of the day—imphalas (bucks), tinyatsi (buffalo), timpunzi (antelope), and tingongoni (gnu)—are displayed near the king's residence. The climax of each day takes place after sunset: A celebration dance is performed, with the king taking the lead in singing special hunting songs. The regiments are fed on roasted beef from royal cattle slaughtered for the occasion. On the final day of the hunt, the wild meat is distributed to all the regiments present.

In February the Buganu (marula wine) Festival celebrates the year's first sample of buganu, a seasonal traditional brew made from wild buganu (marula fruit), and gives thanks to the ancestors for good rains and a bountiful fruit harvest. The lutsango, the nation's women's regiment, presents large quantities of fresh wine to the king and queen mother, who receive them on behalf of the nation and make brief speeches, enjoining the nation to take pride in their cherished traditions. The celebrants (thousands of both male and female regiments) are served with wine and meat from royal cattle. A program of song and traditional dance builds to a climax when the queens join in and the queen mother presents her own dance.

MODE OF DRESS

Swazi married males dancing in the Incwala ceremony must wear an umdada (leopard-skin) skirt, a heavy sigeja shawl made of numerous oxtails, a single oxtail tied to the right wrist, an oxtail armband over the left arm, a fighting stick, a sihlangu (cow shield), and an inyoni crown of black bird feathers. Young unmarried males attired specifically to fight the Incwala sacred bull wear a penis cap and loin skins made of antelope or buck. For the Butimba (royal hunt) the traditional regiments wear special hunting regalia: loin skins, a goat-skin sash (used to carry numerous boxes of matches), and, above the forehead, a ball of woven black and brown speckled bird feathers.

The ceremonial attire for women consists of orange, red, or blue umhelwane cloths wrapped over a black leather skirt. The women carry long staffs made of bam-boo or grass. For the Umhlanga (Reed Dance) the young unmarried women wear tindlamu (ceremonial short beaded skirts decorated with fringe and buttons), anklets, bracelets, necklaces, and colorful sashes with wool streamers. Red wool means the girl is betrothed; blue wool means she has no lover yet.

DIETARY PRACTICES

Each clan in Swaziland has distinctive religious taboos and traditions relating to food. The Dlamini ruling clan prohibits the eating of black sheep, while the Matsenjwa clan (a large commoner clan) forbids goat meat. Taboos prohibit newly married women from eating such popular foods as emasi (yogurt made from fermented sour milk). Women may not eat meat from a cow's head, including the coveted tongue. No Swazi may harvest any home-grown vegetables before the Incwala harvest festival takes place. Every major ritual that involves invoking the ancestors requires slaughtering domestic animals (chicken, goats, and cattle) and brewing indigenous beer from maize (the staple food), and everyone is expected to eat and drink.

RITUALS

Kuphahla, or invoking the ancestors, is the most common and basic religious practice in Swazi religion. All major rituals begin and end with such an invocation, and the ancestors' response comes in various forms, including good rains, plentiful harvests, good fortune, good health, and general material blessings. The rituals vary according to purpose and may include personal prayer, thanksgiving, a complaint or protest, an annual family party, an urgent requisition, or a communal petition.

RITES OF PASSAGE

The scripture and social teachings of Swazi religion are embedded in the four main rites of passage that occur at birth, puberty, marriage, and death. Rituals at these stages affirm and inculcate Swazi traditional knowledge, beliefs, and values.

The puberty and royal funeral rites practiced in Swazi religion are distinctive to Swaziland. Unlike in other neighboring southern Bantu societies, where puberty rites are regulated by local religious functionaries and often involve male and female circumcision, in Swaziland these rites are seen as royal and national ceremonies in which teenage girls and boys pay tribute to the nation through the king and queen mother. The Umhlanga (Reed Dance) trains girls to serve and be loyal and responsible to the monarchy. The Lusekwane (Shrub Rite), held at the beginning of the Incwala, trains boys to be courageous, morally upright (avoiding sexual relations with married women), and loyal to the king. Youth are taught to see themselves as life-long allies in the service of the king, the queen mother, and the country.

The funeral rites for close members of the Swazi royalty are unique, as the deceased are laid to rest not underground but in selected sacred caves and mountains. While commoners are buried in coffins, royalty are interred in fresh, black cow skins in a seated position with provisions of goat meat and beer to take with them into the afterlife. The Swazi believe the royal burial sites are sacred and that royal ancestors become national ancestors, but commoners may not participate in royal funeral rituals or visit the sacred royal caves.

MEMBERSHIP

Membership in Swazi religion is attained at birth, and the individual is nurtured into the religion through socialization at family, clan, community, and national levels. Nobody is constrained to convert to Swazi religion except through marriage (for women) and naturalization (for foreigners who pledge their allegiance to Swaziland). Thousands of Swazi follow Swazi religion privately, outwardly professing themselves Christians. Swazi religion is promoted through royal rituals and ceremonies (including royal weddings and funerals and national celebrations) that embody and affirm the dominant values, beliefs, and traditions cherished by the Swazi nation.

SOCIAL JUSTICE

Like many Bantu ethnic religions, Swazi religion advocates the holistic socioethical value of buntfu, or humanness characterized by caring, fellowship, sharing, and generosity. Its equivalent concepts in other world religions are unconditional love (Christianity), ultimate goodness (Confucianism), and desireless action (Hinduism). Swazi religion promotes the values held by many conservative Swazi and has no specific social teachings on human and civil rights.

SOCIAL ASPECTS

Swazi religion affirms two vital principles about marriage and family: that marriage is irrevocable and that a polygamous marriage and family is the norm. A public ceremony involving family and the wider community seals the marriage as a permanent contract between the groom and bride. At a typical marriage ceremony the bride stabs the ground inside the groom's family's cattle byre, signifying her consent to the marriage and formally ratifying it in the presence of the ancestors of the groom's family.

That the Swazi marriage is typically polygamous is demonstrated through other conditions of marriage, such as the lobola, or bride price. Along with the required number of cows, the groom expects the bride's family to provide an inhlanti (girl) to accompany the bride to her new home. Later the inhlanti invariably marries the groom as a cowife in the polygamous family.

POLITICAL IMPACT

Swazi religion has promoted national and ethnic solidarity through royal ceremonies and festivals, which foster strong ties among the commoners, as well as mutual collaboration and fraternal relations between the commoners and the aristocrats (the chiefs, princes and princesses, and the national councilors that advise the king and queen mother).

CONTROVERSIAL ISSUES

Institutionalized sexism in Swazi religion has caused controversy among the Swazi people. Boys are valued more than girls, and women have been viewed as inferior to men. Traditional marital rights make the husband the principal administrator of the family estate, holding any property in trust on behalf of his wife and children, and an unmarried woman can-not own land except provisionally, on behalf of a minor male child. Widows must obey mourning taboos, including ritual isolation that severely restricts income-generating activities outside the home for anywhere from six months to two years. Traditional arranged marriages, which require the wife to live with or near the husband's family, allow the relatives of a deceased husband to control the estate of the deceased.

Polygamy has given rise to other controversies. Modern Swazi women have expressed concern that polygamy compromises their conjugal rights and inadvertently promotes adultery on the part of the cowives. Women in polygamous families have also been more susceptible to infection by the HIV virus.

CULTURAL IMPACT

Swazi religion has promoted art, music, dance, and environmental values. The colorful ceremonial attire, the songs composed and sung and the dances performed by ritual participants, and the sacred objects and artifacts used in healing ceremonies have collectively contributed to the development of a distinctive Swazi art and performing style. Swazi religion promotes the preservation of the sacred fauna and flora, as well as an appreciation of caves, mountains, springs, rainfall, hurricanes, the ocean, the moon, and the sun.

Other Religions

Islam was introduced into Swaziland in 1963 by Muslim migrant workers from Malawi. Not until 1972 was it firmly established with the full consent of the Swazi monarchy. Since then Islam has spread gradually, and many Swazi who reside in urban areas have embraced the faith. Less that 45 percent of Muslims in Swaziland are Swazi nationals, however, and Islam is still generally perceived as a foreign religion. Muslims have not been permitted to spread their faith through the state-controlled radio station and television channel.

The Baha'i faith was established in Swaziland through the pioneering work of an American family led by John and Valera Allen. The Allens arrived in the country in 1954 and attained their initial converts, school teachers of Matsapha National High School, the same year. The Allen family was later introduced to the king, who welcomed them and granted them permission to preach and spread their religion. The royal consent inspired many Swazi—including prominent princes and princesses—to embrace the Baha'i faith. Its focus on the unity of humankind and its inclusive and tolerant attitude toward other religions have attracted many converts. The Baha'is in Swaziland are known above all for their contribution to national progress through the establishment of reputable educational institutions open to all Swazi. Like Islam, however, the Baha'i faith has not taken root among the average Swazi. It appeals largely to the educated classes in urban areas.

Hebron Ndlovu

See Also Vol. 1: African Traditional Religions, Christianity