MISSIONARIES, XHOSA CLERGY & THE SUPPRESSION OF TRADITIONAL CUSTOMS Wallace G. Mills INITIATION AND BRIDE-PRICE In the second half of the nineteenth century, a number of traditional Xhosa social customs

In the second half of the nineteenth century, a number of traditional Xhosa social customs were opposed by missionaries who tried to insist that their Xhosa converts abstain from all observance or participation on pain of discipline, even expulsion from the church. This chapter will discuss the missionary attacks on intonjane (girl's initiation, puberty rite), ukwaluka (circumcision, boy's initiation rite), and lobola (bride-price). The making and drinking of utywala, the Xhosa beer, was also assailed with increasing vigour but will not be discussed here. As subordinate agents, Xhosa clergy had very limited opportunities to advance views and positions that differed from their missionary mentors on any issue upon which the latter had categorical views. Moreover, they were expected to support and enforce the missionary position. This left them in a very uncomfortable dilemma when rank and file Xhosa Christians were unwilling to abandon the customs. By the beginning of the twentieth century, only the campaign against utywala and other alcoholic beverages had been an unqualified 'success' in that abstention was accepted in practice as a requirement for membership in good standing in almost all mission churches. In regard to the other customs mentioned, 'success' was much more qualified. This chapter concludes with a look at the compromises and outcomes arrived at in the churches in the early twentieth century. In theory, intonjane was the female rite of passage at the onset of first menses, marking the passage from girlhood to adulthood and eligibility for marriage. However, the heavy expense involving four killings, plus beer and other food for the feasting and feeding of attendants over several weeks, meant that, in practice, it was frequently postponed, even until after marriage. Thus, even without intonjane, a girl became an intombi at puberty and could be married. More importantly, the rite was regarded as important preparation for child-bearing. Without it, a girl was liable to fall ill after marriage, be barren, or have sickly children. Any trouble in the young bride was likely to be diagnosed by the diviner as having been sent by her father's ancestors, who were aggrieved that the custom had been omitted, and that she should return to her parental homestead and undergo the rite. Among the southern Nguni, the custom did not involve instruction in sexual matters and techniques, or