Depending on when you decide to visit us, these are special rituals and vibrant traditional ceremonies that you can experience. There are some of the interesting events to see in Nongoma.
Occurring every first week of September is our popular cultural heritage reed dance ceremony that attract thousands of domestic and international tourists. Back in the days this ceremony was used for the king to select a wife from virgins that come priding themselves in their beauty and moral conduct, but now the ceremony is playing an important role in encouraging and celebrating young girls for abstaining from sexual activity until they are grown past teen ages. The dance, song, beauty and address by his Majesty, King of the Zulu is the order of the day.
This ceremony is follows after uMkhosi woSelwa, which is a sacred Zulu ceremony that is not open for public spectacle. The First Fruits ceremony honors the king as the owner of the land by submitting all the first fruits of the harvest of that year that he can bless the and officially open the harvest that his people may enjoy the fruits of their hard labor and the blessings of Gods with the seasons that allowed ploughing that year.
This event takes place two or three times annually kwaNongoma, attracting more that 500 people across provinces, including regulars from Gauteng, Western Cape, Mpumalanga, Limpopo and Swaziland. It seeks to promote and market Nongoma and its local businesses. The event has coverage from radio stations and newspapers, and is also supported by the presence of Police Services, Ambulances, and Car Breakdowns.
Its open for businesses to advertise their services while braced by the presence of celebrities In 2021 the event is scheduled for 29 May 2021.
Every third week of the month, thousands of people gather in Nongoma Mona Market to take advantage of this open market where cattle, traditional attires, traditional artifact/utensils, traditional medicine, and traditional food many more things are for sale at reasonable prices and highest local quality. Mona Market is 10 kilometers from Nongoma town on the R618 road to Hlabisa.
UNdoni is a musical theatrical play that is written & directed by Dalisu Buthelezi, which started showing in 2017. This play has staged in and outside theatres including Joburg Theatre and Matlombe Lounge in Newtown Jozi. This play narrates the key events of the from the arrival of the British Empire, overthrowing the Zulu kingdom, paying close attention to Impi Yamakhanda (Poll Tax Wars) led by Bhambatha kaMancinza, and paying tribute to this hero of the king of the Zondi people. It outlines how these events led us to the #FeesMustFall student movement of 2016. Clips from this play can be seen on their Facebook page called uNdoni.
This play is scheduled to show every weekend of uMkhosi WoMhlanga (Royal Reed Dance) which takes place around the first week of September every year
This annual event attracts thousands of Zulu young men, doing and competing in Zulu Dance (Ingoma yezinsizwa). It is hosted in Mandlakazi area on New Year’s Day of every year kwaCiyane, not far from OPhanyekweni, where the grave monument of Queen Nobandile okaMbulu is located today.
Tourists will be granted tours to see and experience some of our vibrant Zulu traditional ceremonies, like uMemulo (Transition from a teen to Womanhood hosted by the girl’s father), uMgcagco/uMshado (The fascinating Zulu Wedding), uMkhehlo (Hosted by the groom after lobola payment to officially make her inkehli yakhe), UMembeso, uMabo, etc where the ceremonies are open to the public.