<|endoftext|> secretive society who can channel spirits and performs a ritual dance called Gule Wamkulu around harvest and at weddings and funeral. Hide Caption 6 of 12 Photos: Maasai, spitting – Spittle is an essential part of life for the Maasai of East Africa, as it acts as a blessing. "People have different views about where the power and essence of somebody resides," explains Lewis. For some, "spit represents an essence of you as a person."
To spit is "a way of blessing people by giving something of yourself; your own power to someone else." It starts at an early age, when newborn babies are spat on to wish them a good life. "If you leave a place, elders will come and spit on your head in order to bless your departure, and that whatever you do you're safe and kept well," adds Lewis. Hide Caption 7 of 12 Photos: San, healing dance –
Lewis says that this tradition is under threat: "In some places in southern Africa the San now perform their traditional culture exclusively for tourists, because they've been forced out of all their territories as hunter-gatherers by conservationist organizations. This means that by extension... these performances are not the original initiations but a facsimile of them." The San of South Africa, Botswana, Angola and Namibia are, according to some researchers, the world's oldest people . Their hunter-gatherer culture stretches back tens of thousands of years, and integral to it is the trance dance, also known as the healing dance. Historically an all-night affair, the practice brings the whole community together, led by healers and elders dancing around a fire, chanting and breathing deeply until they induce a trance state. It offers the chance to commune with ancestral spirits of the departed and for healers, cure sickness within other dancers.Lewis says that this tradition is under threat: "In some places in southern Africa the San now perform their traditional culture exclusively for tourists, because they've been forced out of all their territories as hunter-gatherers by conservationist organizations. This means that by extension... these performances are not the original initiations but a facsimile of them." Hide Caption 8 of 12 Photos: Bantu-speaking tribes, lobola –
"It's the cause of much conflict," says Lewis, "because in order for a man to get married he must provide often quite a substantial head of cattle, and so he's in indentured labor to his father until the herd he's caring for is big enough." In societies that are cattle based, men tend to marry in their mid-forties, he adds, explaining that "there's always a backlog of women who are available but unable to marry" because men of a similar age have not yet raised the required bridalwealth. A feature of marital affairs for many Bantu-speaking tribes in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Swaziland, lobola is practiced by, among others, Zulus (pictured). Lobola is also referred to as "bridalwealth", with the prospective groom's family negotiating with the bride's for her hand in marriage. The dowry comes in many forms, including money, but some choose cattle. There were reports in 1998 that Nelson Mandela (of Thembu lineage) paid the marital lobola of 60 cows to the family of new wife Graca Machel."It's the cause of much conflict," says Lewis, "because in order for a man to get married he must provide often quite a substantial head of cattle, and so he's in indentured labor to his father until the herd he's caring for is big enough." In societies that are cattle based, men tend to marry in their mid-forties, he adds, explaining that "there's always a backlog of women who are available but unable to marry" because men of a similar age have not yet raised the required bridalwealth. Hide Caption 9 of 12 Photos: Tuareg, tangelmust – Tuaregs are the only tribal communities in which men wear veils instead of women . The tangelmust, a wrapped headdress up to eight meters in length, is ubiquitous among the "blue men of the desert." The name does not allude to the muslin headdress, dyed with indigo, but rather because the dye gradually leeches out into the skin of the wearer. Tuaregs use the tangelmust for practical reasons: it protects from the sun and sand, but men will still wear them at night, and even during meals. Men cover their faces with the tangelmust in front of strangers and women, while women are free to show their face. Hide Caption 10 of 12 Photos: Bodi, Ka'el obesity pageant – Every June or July in the Omo Valley, Ethiopia, the Ka'el -- the Bodi lunar new year -- takes place. With it comes an extraordinary show of pageantry. In the months before the event men live in isolation and drink to excess a