Dikoma tsa Bushbuckridge Mapulaneng 2022

#Dikoma#mapulaneng#Bushbuckruidge
Mapulana, a lowveld ethnic group found in Bushbuckridge in Mpumalanga province and the borders of Limpopo province, Mapulane initiate their youth into womanhood and manhood through an initiation school (KOMA) held in winter. The practices of KOMA are marked by secrecy. Boys and girls who have undergone initiation together will belong to the same regiment. An elaborate system is in place to distinguish a regiment from another based on when the regiment was initiated. The uninitiated cannot "visit" an initiation school when it is in session.

Throughout the homecoming celebration weekend, the young initiated women (BONGWALE) and men (BADIKA) will again and again, in a show of pride, challenge each other to a dance and mock stick fight respectively. Thereafter they will flock to the house of the initiation school permit holder who is the principal of KOMA. Initiates will sleep in the house of the permit holder on the Friday. Parents will then come back on the following Saturday morning to officially receive their initiated female and males, who are now viewed in the Mapulana cultural context as women and men and they would go to the varies families for more celebrations and festivities.

DIKOMA being one of the biggest initiation celebrations in South Africa held in Bushbuckridge, Mpumalanga, gathers over 6000 initiates and well attracts the attention of 150 000 people through different platforms, through its festivities.