Ulwaluko

What it is

Ulwaluko is the Xhosa name for the male initiation that takes a boy into manhood. The people who keep it are the Xhosa, and it is also recorded among some other Nguni-speaking peoples, with the practice common across South Africa. A young man going through it is an umkhwetha; the group with him are abakhwetha. Until he completes it he is an inkwenkwe, a boy, whatever his age, and he cannot join men's gatherings such as tribal meetings. The rite works as a school as much as a ceremony, and afterwards he is addressed as ubhuti, with the respect that comes with his new standing.

Steps of the rite

Several named steps make up the rite. Ukungena is the entry: the cut itself, early in the morning at the homestead enclosure. Then comes the stay in the hut, where the opening days are called ukosiswa, spelled ukojiswa in some accounts. Food is held back then: dry maize, and water mixed with ash. Involvement by the Department of Health has shortened this to about three days or less, and some communities have dropped it. Lifting the food restrictions opens the second part of seclusion. Ukuphuma is the coming out, with the run to the river. Umgidi is the feast at home, where a sheep or cow is killed and gifts are given; ukusoka follows, with public recognition. The hut is burned.

Deaths and safety rules

Deaths from complications have been recorded since 1995, at 969 or more, with amputations estimated at about twice that number; poor skill among practitioners is blamed for most of it. Pondoland is named as the worst affected area, and the Mpondo there stopped the rite in the 1820s, after King Faku lost several sons to it. Schools began again in the 1980s and 1990s, and the rite is now carried out widely. In the summer of 2019, 21 boys died at separate schools, most of them from dehydration; the health minister, Zweli Mkhize, said summer was the wrong season for it. Age checks, consent for minors, medical examinations, registered surgeons and sterile instruments are now required, and the Customary Initiation Act of 2021 writes these rules into law.

Dress and objects

After the cut, the initiate leaves his old clothes behind. He puts on traditional dress that marks his changed state, and some communities hand him a stick that speaks of adulthood, maturity and authority. His head is shaved, and he is washed. Body paint is part of the practice: clay paint, called umhlonyane or white ochre, is worn on the body. When he comes out of seclusion he is wrapped from head to feet in a blanket, the irhagi, which hides his face, and some carry sticks that poke through the small opening near the face. A new blanket is given to each initiate, and many dress formally for a set time afterwards.

Sacred and contested

The rite is held to be sacred and secret, meant for initiates and elder men, and public discussion of it can bring sharp reactions from families and communities. Those who defend it say outside criticism often misses the cultural setting and the safeguards Xhosa communities have added, and they describe initiation as an educational institution that prepares young men to help build a better society. In January 2014 Desmond Tutu asked traditional leaders and government to intervene and to bring qualified medical practitioners into the practice. Participation is not compulsory for anyone. It has also been alleged that the rite can weigh on the self-esteem of a homosexual young man, in communities where homosexual men still face hostility; some who took part said they did so to be accepted.

How Ulwaluko is kept

An ingcibi, the traditional surgeon, does the cutting. Elders and older men walk with the young man to the hut in the bush, and an attendant, the ikhankatha, looks after him there while older men teach him. Family at home prepares for his return. He stays cut off from the community for weeks, then washes in the river and comes back wrapped in a blanket. The family may then hold the umgidi feast, slaughtering a sheep or cow, giving gifts and welcoming him as an ikrwala, one of the amakrwala.

When and where

The rite is usually held in late June or early July, or in late November or early December. It begins with the cutting, followed by seclusion of about a month, divided into two parts. In towns and cities the seclusion is often shorter, at least four weeks.

It belongs to South Africa, where it is practised widely, and it is recorded among the Xhosa and some other Nguni-speaking peoples. Families hold it at the homestead, and the seclusion hut stands away from the community, in forest or near mountains or in another remote place. Pondoland is named as an area badly affected by deaths and complications.

What Ulwaluko means

Those who keep the rite see it as a change of standing, not only a physical event. The old clothes go and the hut is burned, so the boy cannot simply go back to what he was. He is given a new blanket and a new name for his state, ikrwala, a new man, and the community greets him with the respect owed to an adult. The washing in the river carries ideas of being made clean, of rebirth, and of being received back. Elders pass on identity and duty to the next generation.

Questions people ask about Ulwaluko

See also

Tā mokoThe traditional permanent tattooing of the Māori people of New Zealand, marking identity and status.Tribal youth dormitoryA communal house where a tribe's unmarried young people sleep, learn and servePeʻaThe traditional Samoan rite of full-body tattooing for men, tapped by master artistsLoboloA customary practice in Southern Africa where the groom's family provides assets to the bride's family.

Good reading and sources

• South Africans perform first 'successful' penis transplantBBC, Article
• South Africans perform first 'successful' penis transplantBBC, Article

• Ulwaluko on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• Wikidata recordOpen data

It may contain mistakes. Traditions differ from one family, village and community to the next, and the people who keep them know them best. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-05.