South African Indigenous Weddings Culture, Customs & Traditions – Kedibone Seutloadi

A5, 276p.

2^nd Edition – 2026

This captivating book features chiefly the heterosexual type of weddings of ‘ordinary people’ or ‘commoners’ of indigenous African descent. It celebrates the beauty and depth of our mostly formerly unwritten heartfelt matrimonial customs, age-old rituals, and family and community centred values that shaped generations.

Drawing on research and deeply personal and often humorous anecdotes of the author and ordinary people, the book illustrates the subtle variances and similarities between the practices of the ten South African indigenous ethnic groups: the Khoisan (the first nation), Bapedi (Northern Sotho), Basotho (Southern Sotho), Batswana, amaNdebele, emaSwati, VaTsonga, VhaVenda, AmaXhosa and AmaZulu.

Each chapter is a celebration of love, identity and heritage. It takes you on an in-depth journey through the stages of our traditional weddings from rites of passage and marriage proposal to lobolo negotiations, integration into families of the groom/bride, gift exchanges, dissolution, legal and human rights imperatives, blending of heritage and faith etc.