When a Kaffir girl arrives at the age of puberty, messengers are sent
by her father to all the neighbouring villages to invite the young
women to attend the “Ntonjane.” The girl in the meantime is kept
secluded in the house of an aunt, or other female relative, and her
father does not see her. Soon parties are seen coming from all sides,
singing as they march. The first party that arrives halts in front of
the cattle kraal, where it is joined by those that come after. When the
girls are all assembled, the father chooses an ox to be slaughtered.
The meat is cooked, and men and women come from all directions to the
feast. The men then instruct the women to dress the girls for the
dance, and when this is done they are ranged in rows in front of the
cattle kraal. They are almost naked having on only a girdle round the
waist, and an apron, called cacawe, made for the occasion out of the
leaves of a certain plant. In their hands they hold assagais, using
them as walking sticks.
When all is ready, four of the girls step out of the front row and
dance, the rest singing; and when these are tired four others step out,
and so on, until all the girls present have danced. The spectators then
applaud the best dancer, or if they do not at once unanimously fix upon
the same person, the girls dance until all present agree.
The girls then give room to the men and women, who form themselves in
lines in the same manner, and dance until it is decided which of them
surpass the others. The dancing is continued until sunset, when the men
and women return home, leaving the party of girls (called the “jaka”)
who remain overnight.
Next day dancing is resumed in the same order, the guests usually
arriving very early in the morning.
If the girl’s father is a rich man three oxen are slaughtered, and the
ntonjane is kept up for twelve days. On the thirteenth day the young
woman comes out of the house where she has all the time been living
apart from her family. If the girl is a chief’s daughter the ntonjane
is kept up for twenty-four days. All the councillors send oxen to be
slaughtered, that there may be plenty for the guests to eat.
The following ceremony takes place on the occasion of a chief’s
daughter coming out of the house in which she was concealed during the
twenty-four days:—
A son of her father’s chief councillor puts on his head the two wings
of a blue crane (the indwe), regarded by the Kaffirs as an emblem of
bravery only to be worn by veterans in time of war. He goes into the
house where she is, and when he comes out she follows him. They march
towards the kraal where the dancing took place, the girl’s mother, the
jaka, or party of young women, the girl’s father, and his councillors,
forming a procession. More cattle are slaughtered for the “indwe,” and
then dancing is renewed, after which the girl drinks milk for the first
time since the day when she was concealed in the house. Large skins
containing milk are sent from different kraals to the place where the
ntonjane is held. Some milk is put into a small vessel made of rushes,
a little of it is poured on the fireplace, the aunt, or other female
relative, in whose charge the girl was, takes the first mouthful, then
she gives the milk to the girl, who, after having drunk, is taken to
her mother’s house. The people then disperse, and the ntonjane is over.
This ceremony is frequently attended with gross licentiousness. The
girls of the jaka are allowed by immemorial custom to select
sweethearts, and this liberty often leads to depravity.