The Sunday News
Robin Muchetu, Senior Reporter
NOVEMBER, in the Zimbabwean set up has been recognised as a sacred and spiritual month, any rites to do with marriage, weddings, unveiling of tombstones and traditional rituals are not performed.
Traditionalists and culturalists say those who go against this norm are usually said to bring bad luck upon themselves. They even add that one can die, get divorced soon if they marry. This age-long tradition has spilled into modern day life as event planners are also feeling the pinch as they record very low business or none at all in November.
A snap survey done by Sunday News showed that a majority of businesses linked to weddings and other related ceremonies take a knock during this time of the year. Ms Kathy Mwanza the face behind Cake Fairy Zimbabwe that specialises in wedding and lobola cakes, said they have closed the wedding section as there is virtually no business.
“I delivered my last wedding cake for October last Saturday as the wedding season is temporarily over as traditionally November is sacred and no weddings must take place. I am not sure, however, if other bakers in the city have November cake orders but we do not have any,” she said.
During this period, she said focus will be on occasion cakes and tutorials. Ms Nontokozo Pinky Dube from Touch of Class Luxury Designs who is an events designer, wedding décor artist and coordinator also shared similar sentiments with Ms Mwanza saying November was a dry season for her business wedding wise.
“There is limited activity in November, it is almost dead as far as wedding events are concerned save for other races, we have some white people who hire us during this time. They are the only ones who come as they do not observe the cultures we come from,” she said.
Those in the videography and sound area said they were feeling the pinch.
“Some people do not wed in November purely because the Christmas holiday will be around the corner so they slate their ceremonies for December when there is more free time for relatives and family member. So, weddings are pushed to December and November we are basically relaxed. On the other end the culture aspect of the sacredness of November is still alive as people still observe it. However, at the courts people do wed in November, it is only the big white weddings that are not done,” said Mr Nqobile Mpofu of Nqoe Video Productions.
Mrs Desiree Malaba-Zhou the director of The Homestead which hosts weddings in the CBD, however, differed from others saying weddings were now done throughout the year with no special exception.
“Things have to change really, people must wed anytime, at our venue we actually are fully booked this whole month with weddings so it is changing and we want it to continue in that fashion. December is always fully packed so some people are pushing back in to November where prices are also very affordable. December the prices shoot up so November is better for some people,” she said.
A Bulawayo resident, Mrs Malaba Zhou said the reason why marriages and lobola were not done in November was that people would be going to the fields to plough their land and tend their crops so there was no time to be negotiating for lobola so it was termed taboo in the rural areas.
Other venue owners especially those who hire our gardens said November is the time they spend sprucing up their gardens as there will be no activity. Those in the catering sector said they spend this time doing inventory of their goods and resting.
“We take this time to rest as caterers because December is very busy, there are events almost every other day so we take time to rejuvenate ourselves and wait for the busy December period. We also sit and take stock of our goods and replace those that are no longer suitable for business so that we are ready for December,” said an official from Catering Solutions.
