Traditional Clothing

Since we arrived, I’ve been wanting to add a post about the clothing in South Africa. For the most part, people wear what we would wear in the United States, but they also have their traditional dress, which they often wear. We have seen very specific traditional clothing in cultural events and performances, like leather skirts or woven hair hats or leg ornaments made with animal skins or seedpods, but there is also a more combined and westernized dress that we see often. Most of these images come from an event that was held last Saturday at the stake center. People from each ward brought foods from their cultures, wore traditional clothing and did some fun performances that they all understood. We just enjoyed them. Here are some pictures of clothing you might see in South Africa. All of you young women might enjoy the one of the woman lying down on the mat. That is the pose that a married woman must take in some of the tribes when they have a visit from their mother-in-law. Somehow I can’t picture my three daughter-in-laws lying down on a mat when I come in the door. :)

What you would typically see on the street--it's a mixture

This lady was a tour guide and wore a western/traditional dress.

This is the mother-in-law pose; a sign of respect

We see lots of bright colors

This is Jessica, one of our cute institute students. In the bowl is pineapple with curry powder; not too adventurous (it was an Indian dish)

The face painting was once specific, but this lady told us that now you can just make up your own design.

Sisters from one of the wards.

Even the handbag is coordinated; I'd say that's a modern touch.

The head dresses are common and they tie them in all different ways.

This was part of their performance.

You can see that this is a pretty westernized dress

Sister Mukanga, one of our seminary teachers

Some ladies from the Alexandra Branch.

Joburg 1--the fellow on the right is Bishop Gqlbitole. Can you say a g, a q and an l in succession? Well neither can we!

Sister Radley, another of our seminary teachers.

A guy from the Cosmo City Branch

An institute student--there is a big Indian population here so we often see Indian dress.

A very pretty headdress. The picture doesn't do justice.

A cute seminary student; she has an identical twin sister.

We often see people dressed all in white on Sundays.

or in this uniform

Lots of muslims here also