their profession by their ancestors and had to undergo a period of apprenticeship after which they would be able to contact the ancestral spirits at will and would be able to diagnose misfortune and illness. . Isangomas predict the present and the future of the people who come to seek help from them. Sometimes they are expected to find stolen goods. They were able to predict fortunes by 'throwing the bones'. They usually wore distinctive beaded attire - long wigs threaded with white beads and crossed breast bands made of animal skin. The inflated bladder of an animal that had been sacrificed to the ancestors to augment the wearer's power of insight into the spiritual world usually topped their headdresses. The beads on a sangoma's head-dress were strung in loops to give the spirits somewhere to sit as they spoke to her. Sangomas wielded considerable power in the Zulu society then and still do. They often work together with traditional medicinal healers or herbalists. Isangomas play a significant role among the Zulu nation and are assigned very powerful status among the society.
             The marriage customs was conducted according to strict rules and protocol. As each clan was regarded as one family, members of the same clan were not allowed to marry, regardless of how far back the original family link stretched. Adolescent girls become members of a succession of peer groups until they reached a marriageable age. A young man was only allowed to woo a girl if she was considered to be mature enough and if her peer group considered him to be a good proposition. The man was then allowed to make a series of indirect approaches, often through his sisters. After an initial period of playing "hard to get", the girl was allowed to
             ...