They Dance Like Isaiah Shembe

I did research in Inanda, South Africa on the Nazareth Baptist Church, otherwise more commonly known at Shembe. I lived in the Nazaretha Holy City of Ebuhleni during the Holy Month of July. It was during this time that I made a lot of discoveries about myself by completely immersing myself in another culture. I spent my days stressing about if I had enough interviews with the right people, while bitching at Zahkona to make sure she was actually working.

A lot happens at Ebuhleni in July. From the weekly dance ceremonies, girls' puberty ceremony, bringing of the ancestors, boys circumcision ceremony, baptism, and weekly Sabbath. My favorite thing to witness though was the was the girls' puberty ceremony. I took a zillion pictures, but one I took of some girls' before the ceremony sticks out to me.

Dancing is the thing the Shembe is most well known for. It is the part of the church that many people come to watch, and that much of the youth of the church enjoy. It is believed that dancing is done to show ones honor for Jehovah. While most of the outfits are similar to those from the traditional Zulu dancing, the ones the young boys wear are similar to Scottish Military Outfits. The reason for this is because the Prophet said that boys must wear these because someday white people would come to the church and they would need a dance outfit culturally relevant to them.

Overall I had an amazing experience. I got to spend a lot of time around my host-family and got really close to them. I felt like this picture truly shows the relationship I built with my host family (as well as how much of a hobo I looked like).