Siswati and English are the official languages while English is the medium of instruction in all schools and is widely understood. Proceedings and debates in Parliament are in both languages.
Learn a bit of siswati translations
(greeting) Sanibonani! "Good day!"
(response) Yebo! "Yes good day!"
(greeting) Ninjani? "How are you?"
(response) Sikhona, ninjani nine? "We are well how are you?"
(response) Natsi sikhona! "We also are well"
(question) likuphi lihovisi leti vakashi? "Where is the tourist office?"
(appreciation) Siyabonga "We thank you"
(appreciation) Ngiyabonga "I thank you"
(farewell) Salakahle "Stay well"
(farewell) Hambakahle "Go well"
The Inyanga is a respected member of the community and enjoys a high social position in cultural life. It has been suggested that the colonialists feared the power and influence of traditional healers, in society, and created the popular myth of the "witch doctor" to discredit the Inyanga; suggesting magic or witch craft instead of natural skills.
Sangoma
The Sangoma is a fortune-teller. perhaps similar to the European gypsy, and offers psychological benefits.
Visitors may consult registered traditional healers and a special school is maintained at Siteki. Visitation to the school and lectures can be organised by prior arrangement.
Events
Traditional ceremonies are an integral part of Swazi life, despite the advent of modernisation. The most important of these is the sacred Incwala or "Festival of the First Fruits'. this is essentially a Kingship ceremony held to renew the strength of the King and the Swazi Nation for the coming year.
Incwala dress cord
Incwala is held in late December/early January of each year and, at a time of the new moon preceding the event, traditionalists visit the main rivers of Swaziland and return to the Nations ancestral home, on the shores of the Indian Ocean near Maputo, to gather sea water. At this time the King goes into seclusion.
When the water gatherers return, and at the time of the full moon, the young men of the Nation congregate at the King's residence. He orders them to march to Egundvwini that first afternoon of Ncwala, a distance of 40 kilometres, to gather branches of the lusekwane tree. They arrive, by mid-night, with the branches. As the youths rest, the elders use the branches to construct a sacred bower for the King alongside the Royal cattle Byre. The warriors of the nation assemble, dressed in special Ncwala costumes made of of ox hide and leopard skin. Ritual songs, which may not be recorded and which are taboo at other times of the year, are sung. A black bull is driven into the King's bower and this animal is used for the mystic and sacred purposes of the ceremony. The King joins the warriors in dance on the fourth day and the Queen Mother and official guests attend. Only after the King has eaten part of a pumpkin may the Swazi consume newly-grown crops. No work is done on the fifth day which is set aside for rest and meditation. On the sixth day, firewood is collected for a massive bonfire on which articles are burned representing the year just past. To signify the start of a new year, the ancestral spirits are entreated to quench the bonfire with rain. The Ncwala ends with singing, dancing and feasting.
