Traditions of Sub-Saharan Africa
Naming ceremonies, initiation, kente and the harvest yam, Timkat and Ethiopian coffee. 167 traditions on EveryParampara so far.
Countries
🇦🇴 Angola 6🇧🇯 Benin 8🇧🇼 Botswana 6🇧🇫 Burkina Faso 5🇧🇮 Burundi 2🇨🇲 Cameroon 7🇨🇻 Cape Verde 3🇨🇫 Central African Republic 0🇹🇩 Chad 0🇰🇲 Comoros 0🇨🇩 Democratic Republic of the Congo 5🇩🇯 Djibouti 1🇬🇶 Equatorial Guinea 0🇪🇷 Eritrea 11🇸🇿 Eswatini 3🇪🇹 Ethiopia 34🇬🇦 Gabon 3🇬🇲 Gambia 5🇬🇭 Ghana 26🇬🇳 Guinea 2🇬🇼 Guinea-Bissau 1🇨🇮 Ivory Coast 4🇰🇪 Kenya 15🇱🇸 Lesotho 4🇱🇷 Liberia 1🇲🇬 Madagascar 14🇲🇼 Malawi 7🇲🇱 Mali 9🇲🇺 Mauritius 15🇲🇿 Mozambique 4🇳🇦 Namibia 2🇳🇪 Niger 7🇳🇬 Nigeria 34🇨🇬 Republic of the Congo 2🇷🇼 Rwanda 3🇸🇹 São Tomé and Príncipe 0🇸🇳 Senegal 10🇸🇨 Seychelles 2🇸🇱 Sierra Leone 1🇸🇴 Somalia 4🇿🇦 South Africa 30🇸🇸 South Sudan 1🇹🇿 Tanzania 13🇹🇬 Togo 8🇺🇬 Uganda 7🇿🇲 Zambia 9🇿🇼 Zimbabwe 8
On the calendar
🇲🇱 MaliMahrمهر
A mandatory gift from the groom to the bride in Islamic marriages, serving as her financial security.Rite of passage
🇿🇦 South Africa and 5 moreSouthern African traditional healing
Ancestral divination, herbal muthi, and spiritual care across Southern AfricaSpiritual
🇳🇪 In-Gall, NigerCure Salée
A yearly gathering of Tuareg and Wodaabe nomads in In-Gall to mark the end of the rainy season.Festival
🇬🇭 Ghana and 2 moreAgbadza
An Ewe music and dance, born of war songs and kept for funerals, weddings and festivalsPerformance
🇳🇬 Ibadan, Nigeria and 1 moreYoruba naming ceremonyÌkòlọ́pọ̀ Orúkọ Yorùbá
A rite of passage where a newborn receives a destiny name through divination and family celebration.Rite of passage · Feasts and festival meals
🇬🇭 Accra, GhanaFantasy coffinsAbebuu adekai
Custom hand-carved burial caskets shaped as animals, tools and symbols in southern GhanaRite of passage
🇿🇦 Johannesburg, South Africa and 1 moreLobolo
A customary practice in Southern Africa where the groom's family provides assets to the bride's family.Rite of passage
🇺🇬 UgandaKwanjula
A formal marriage introduction ritual of the Baganda people in Uganda, where families meet to exchange gifts and seek blRite of passage
🇺🇬 Uganda and 4 moreBarkcloth
Cloth beaten from tree bark across Africa, Asia and the PacificCraft
🇲🇬 MadagascarFamadihana
A Malagasy reburial custom where families gather to rewrap and honour their ancestorsRite of passage
🇬🇭 Odumase Krobo, GhanaDipo
An annual Ghanaian coming-of-age ceremony welcoming Krobo girls into womanhoodRite of passage
🇬🇭 GhanaAdowa
A Ghanaian Akan dance where hands and feet carry the mood of the occasionPerformance
🇷🇼 RwandaKwita Izina
Rwanda's yearly ceremony naming newborn mountain gorillas, after a baby-naming customRite of passage
🇿🇦 South AfricaUlwaluko
A Xhosa rite that takes a boy into manhood through seclusion and teachingRite of passage
🇳🇬 Lagos, Nigeria and 2 moreAso ebiAsọ-Ẹbí
Matching cloth worn by family and friends at Yoruba weddings, funerals and partiesDress
🇲🇬 MadagascarLamba
A rectangular cloth wrapped around the body, worn across Madagascar and at burialsDress
🇪🇹 EthiopiaWedding customs in Ethiopia
Weddings across Ethiopia's many peoples, arranged by families and sealed in local ritesRite of passage
🇬🇭 GhanaOutdooringkpojiemɔ (Ga), abadinto (Akan), vihehedego (Ewe)
A Ghanaian ceremony eight days after birth, when a baby is brought outdoors and namedRite of passage · Feasts and festival meals
🇰🇪 Kenya and 5 moreBurial
Placing the dead in the ground or a structure to honor them and guide their journey.Rite of passage
🇿🇦 Cape Town, South Africa and 5 moreTooth ablation
A global custom of deliberately removing healthy teeth for social, ritual, or aesthetic reasons.Rite of passage
🇨🇲 Bafoussam, CameroonNyang Nyang FestivalNyan-Nyang
A four-month Bamileke harvest festival and initiation rite in western CameroonFestival
🇳🇦 Outapi, NamibiaOlufuko
A seven-day Aawambo initiation rite and festival held annually in Outapi, NamibiaRite of passage
🇺🇬 Mbale, UgandaImbalu
The biennial rite of passage into adulthood observed by the Bamasaaba of UgandaRite of passage
🇧🇼 BotswanaBogwera and bojale
Tswana coming-of-age initiation for boys and girls, held over several monthsRite of passage
🇲🇬 Antananarivo, MadagascarSavika
Traditional Betsileo zebu wrestling and courtship rite in MadagascarGame
🇿🇦 South AfricaIsidwaba
A knee-length leather skirt of cowhide or goatskin, worn by married Zulu womenDress
🇺🇬 Mengo, UgandaEkisaakaate
A royal Buganda cultural retreat teaching heritage, crafts, and manners to the youngRite of passage
🇺🇬 UgandaEkisaakaate
A Buganda youth retreat teaching traditional manners, crafts and life skillsEtiquette
🇿🇦 South Africa and 5 moreSouthern African traditional healing
Ancestral divination, herbal muthi, and spiritual care across Southern AfricaSpiritual
🇳🇪 In-Gall, NigerCure Salée
A yearly gathering of Tuareg and Wodaabe nomads in In-Gall to mark the end of the rainy season.Festival
🇬🇭 Ghana and 2 moreAgbadza
An Ewe music and dance, born of war songs and kept for funerals, weddings and festivalsPerformance
🇳🇬 Ibadan, Nigeria and 1 moreYoruba naming ceremonyÌkòlọ́pọ̀ Orúkọ Yorùbá
A rite of passage where a newborn receives a destiny name through divination and family celebration.Rite of passage · Feasts and festival meals
🇬🇭 Accra, GhanaFantasy coffinsAbebuu adekai
Custom hand-carved burial caskets shaped as animals, tools and symbols in southern GhanaRite of passage
🇿🇦 Johannesburg, South Africa and 1 moreLobolo
A customary practice in Southern Africa where the groom's family provides assets to the bride's family.Rite of passage
🇺🇬 UgandaKwanjula
A formal marriage introduction ritual of the Baganda people in Uganda, where families meet to exchange gifts and seek blRite of passage
🇺🇬 Uganda and 4 moreBarkcloth
Cloth beaten from tree bark across Africa, Asia and the PacificCraft
🇲🇬 MadagascarFamadihana
A Malagasy reburial custom where families gather to rewrap and honour their ancestorsRite of passage
🇬🇭 Odumase Krobo, GhanaDipo
An annual Ghanaian coming-of-age ceremony welcoming Krobo girls into womanhoodRite of passage
🇬🇭 GhanaAdowa
A Ghanaian Akan dance where hands and feet carry the mood of the occasionPerformance
🇷🇼 RwandaKwita Izina
Rwanda's yearly ceremony naming newborn mountain gorillas, after a baby-naming customRite of passage
🇿🇦 South AfricaUlwaluko
A Xhosa rite that takes a boy into manhood through seclusion and teachingRite of passage
🇳🇬 Lagos, Nigeria and 2 moreAso ebiAsọ-Ẹbí
Matching cloth worn by family and friends at Yoruba weddings, funerals and partiesDress
🇲🇬 MadagascarLamba
A rectangular cloth wrapped around the body, worn across Madagascar and at burialsDress
🇪🇹 EthiopiaWedding customs in Ethiopia
Weddings across Ethiopia's many peoples, arranged by families and sealed in local ritesRite of passage
🇬🇭 GhanaOutdooringkpojiemɔ (Ga), abadinto (Akan), vihehedego (Ewe)
A Ghanaian ceremony eight days after birth, when a baby is brought outdoors and namedRite of passage · Feasts and festival meals
🇰🇪 Kenya and 5 moreBurial
Placing the dead in the ground or a structure to honor them and guide their journey.Rite of passage
🇿🇦 Cape Town, South Africa and 5 moreTooth ablation
A global custom of deliberately removing healthy teeth for social, ritual, or aesthetic reasons.Rite of passage
🇨🇲 Bafoussam, CameroonNyang Nyang FestivalNyan-Nyang
A four-month Bamileke harvest festival and initiation rite in western CameroonFestival
🇳🇦 Outapi, NamibiaOlufuko
A seven-day Aawambo initiation rite and festival held annually in Outapi, NamibiaRite of passage
🇺🇬 Mbale, UgandaImbalu
The biennial rite of passage into adulthood observed by the Bamasaaba of UgandaRite of passage
🇧🇼 BotswanaBogwera and bojale
Tswana coming-of-age initiation for boys and girls, held over several monthsRite of passage
🇲🇬 Antananarivo, MadagascarSavika
Traditional Betsileo zebu wrestling and courtship rite in MadagascarGame
🇿🇦 South AfricaIsidwaba
A knee-length leather skirt of cowhide or goatskin, worn by married Zulu womenDress
🇺🇬 Mengo, UgandaEkisaakaate
A royal Buganda cultural retreat teaching heritage, crafts, and manners to the youngRite of passage
🇺🇬 UgandaEkisaakaate
A Buganda youth retreat teaching traditional manners, crafts and life skillsEtiquette
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Cure Salée: NigerTZai, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Agbadza: JY midey, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Famadihana: Saveoursmile (Hery Zo Rakotondramanana), CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Kwita Izina: Thesmiler de, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Dipo: FatawuY1, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Barkcloth: Hiart, CC0, source
- Fantasy coffins: Regula Tschumi, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, source
- Lobolo: Iwuala Lucy, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Southern African traditional healing: Wizzy, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Ulwaluko: Dingeman, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Aso ebi: SUPREME LACE, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Burial: Rama , commissioned by Wikimédia France, CC BY-SA 2.0 fr, source
- Tooth ablation: Unknown author, CC BY 4.0, source
- Nyang Nyang Festival: Zacharie Ngnogue, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Olufuko: Pemba.mpimaji, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Imbalu: Dixon099, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Lamba: Lemurbaby at English Wikipedia, CC BY 3.0, source
- Isidwaba: USBSMG1, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Savika: Obiniaina RANDRIANADRASANA, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Adowa: Quami43, CC BY-SA 4.0, source