Friday, May 23, 2025

When Social Media Takes Over Xhosa Tradition #Foreskin

isiXhosa initiates are taking selfies with their cellphones and posting them to social media.
QUNU, EASTERN CAPE, SOUTH AFRICA, 14 DECEMBER 2013: Xhosa Initiates pass by close to the funeral of Nelson Mandela, Qunu, South Africa, 14 December 2014. These initiates have recently been circumsized traditionally and without anesthetic. They will spend up to two months dressed this way and learning the tradtions of Xhosa culture. Nelson Mandela, an icon of democracy, also went through this tradtional ritual. Mandela was buried at his family home in Qunu after passing away on the 5th December 2013.

If you have ever bothered to ask an amaXhosa man about his initiation, he’ll straight up tell you that he is not allowed to talk about it. What happens is between him, his fellow initiates and their ancestors. Yet in the Eastern Cape, there’s a problem with the traditions.

Leaders in the Eastern Cape have called for a ban on cellphones at initiation schools after a flood of selfies hit social media.

Although there were none that depicted any circumcision details, photos showed initiates sticking their tongues out, one initiate kissing a girl, and a group posing with a woman at the side of a road. OR Tambo deputy mayor Thandekile Sabisa, who heads the municipality’s traditional initiation programme, said:

That initiates who are meant to be in secluded areas post their photos on the internet shows the extent to which our culture has been lost [among] young people.

Oh, technology.

[source: timeslive]