Unesu
According to the Meriam Webster dictionary, tradition is “an inherited, established, or customary pattern of thought, action or behaviour (such as religious practice or social custom)”. These are habits and rules entrenched in us that help shape us into the gentlemen we will be in the future. But what happens when these traditions work against you, and turn you into what can only be described as “bobo the clown”?
Zulu families traditionally slaughter a cow in celebration of a life changing event. A few years ago, in an attempt to prove how grown and mature I was, I took part in the slaughtering of a sheep. According to our tradition, this would cement my status as a man. My uncle slaughtered the sheep and I assisted by holding it down. Thinking that the sheep was dead, I gallantly leaned into its face, only for the sheep to give one final bleat which sent me flying backwards in fear – only to land on a freshly “made” heap of sheep poop nuggets. My tradition is to now hide in a room until the slaughtering is over: and if tradition dictates that I prove my manhood by slaughtering, then I respectfully bow out.