African Wear

The Best Xhosa Styles For Couples

The Best Xhosa Styles For Couples – The Xhosa-speaking people are the main inhabitants of the coastal regions in southeastern Africa. They are noted to have resided in the region before the 16th century and are known as the amaXhosa people.

The Khoisan-speaking people are ancestors of the Xhosa that migrated to East Africa and took up the isiXhosa language.

The Xhosa language is a Nguni language and an official language spoken in South Africa and Zimbabwe. It is also a second language in the Eastern Cape, Western Cape, Gauteng and Northern Cape of South Africa.

Xhosa men are majorly hunters, warriors and stockmen. Hence, their traditional wear is animal skin, especially goatskin which has been cured but the hair has not been removed.

On special ceremonies such as weddings and initiation occasions, the Xhosa men wear embroidered skirts and wrap a rectangular cloth over their left shoulder. Ingcawa is a white and black blanket, adorned with ‘ukurhaswa’ that the men wear.

They may also wear a tunic shirt accessorised with strands of beaded necklaces. Short neck beads – Isichebe and long bead necklace – Isidanga made with different colours; wrist and foot beads called ‘amaso’, and head beads known as ‘unngqa’ or ‘igwala’ are commonly worn.

Among the Pondo people of the Xhosa clan, Inkciyo, a beaded skirt is worn to cover the pubic area. The beads used to adorn the garment are turquoise and white colour. The skirt is commonly worn by Xhosa women during a virginity-testing ceremony to mark the rites of passing into womanhood.

Young girls who are about to pass into adolescence wear ‘Impempe’ – a whistle that has a necklace on it to symbolise this.