Getting married twice: the relationship between indigenous and Christian marriages among the Ndau of the Chimanimani area of Zimbabwe

Abstract

The thesis focuses on the Ndau people of Chimanimani, Zimbabwe. Contact with Westerners brought significant changes to their marriage practices. South Africa General Mission (SAGM) missionaries required Ndau people to conduct church (“white”) weddings for their marriages to be recognised by the church. This has caused a problem whereby Ndau Christians marry traditionally/customarily and yet still have to conduct church weddings. The church has not rethought its position on the necessity for having this duplication of marriages. The thesis sought to develop an in-depth understanding of Ndau people’s perceptions and experiences on the connection between and the necessity for both marriages in Chimanimani, Zimbabwe. Data regarding Ndau people’s understanding of marriage practices was collected using in-depth semi-structured and focus group interviews. Following a qualitative research design, the study used the phenomenological approach to collect data and postcolonialism as the research paradigm. Using these, twenty individual and five focus group interviews were conducted. Seven themes emerged from the data. These covered marriage practices of the Ndau, the most preferred way of marriage, various reasons for having church weddings, perceived relationship between the two marriages, different views on the sufficiency of traditional marriages, thoughts on the expenses of church weddings, and how participants married and reasons thereof. The findings showed that Ndau Christians conduct church weddings for several reasons. These are because they:  want to celebrate their marriages  desire God’s blessings when they convert to Christianity. It is regarded as God’s biblical requirement  understand it as a church requirement/rule  get church teaching that encourage church weddings  need recognition and acceptance in the church as well as general social recognition  associate Christianity with Westernisation vi  regard it as a deterrent to unfaithfulness and polygyny  regard church weddings as having wider official recognition than traditional marriages and  want associated material advantages. The conclusion states that there is neither a theological nor a biblical basis for requiring Ndau Christians to have church weddings. Using a postcolonial hybrid approach, the thesis suggests a merging of the two marriages into one ceremony. More recommendations were given and the church was challenged to be more responsive to its people’s struggles.