Even though the Zulu people are famous for their brightly colored beads and baskets, they also have so many great beliefs and values; they have special ways for sickness and healing, and a special kind of kinship. The Zulu culture is the largest ethnic group in South Africa. The word Zulu means people of heaven. Their primary mode of subsistence is pastoralism, which means they tend to large animal herds for a living. The Zulu people have great beliefs and religion. The have a great belief in their ancestors. They have great tradition when it comes to sickness and healing. As for kinship they mostly have nuclear families and they live in big families. The Zulu culture is a group of people that resides in southeastern region of South Africa in a place called KwaZulu-Natal. This is the largest ethnic group with around ten million people. The primary language the Zulu speak is called isiZulu what comes from a subgroup called Bantu. The Zulu people’s ancestors moved to this region in the ninth century. Then in the 18th century the Zulu people became a nation and that is when the mythology of the Zulu warrior came to live. The Zulu people actually started as a clan that where part of a group called Nguni. Then during the 19th century the Zulu people’s military became very strong and they took over much of the land, women and goods from many of their neighboring tribes. But then around 1830 the British came in and they wanted to take over the entire southern part of Africa. And in 1879 a war broke out between Europe and the Zulu people where the Zulu people where defeated. Africa became independent in 1910 after the union in South Africa was created. Over the past ten years there has been a lot of struggling and violence for the Zulu people because of the new government for the right to run their own affairs. The Zulu culture primary mode of subsistence is pastoralism. This means that the Zulu people make a living from herding large animal herds. They mostly tend to herbivores. Cattle are the primary animal that they tend to. They use their cattle for meat and milk. But the men would also hunt for meat. They also grow lots of vegetables like corn, beans, yams and millet. Traditionally the men are taking care of the animal herds that are roaming around in the open and the women tend to the vegetables like planting and harvesting. The Zulu people are also famous for all their beautiful art work that they make. They make all kinds of colorful beads and baskets. The Zulu people have great beliefs and religion. They worship their ancestors and believe in a god named Nkulunkulu. They not interact with their god on a day to day basis. They believe that when a person dies that they from their spiritual world will continue to watch over the people. And they believe that the person that is passed away keeps doing what he or she has always done. The Zulu have a saying “According to the power and authority a forefather had in his lifetime, so it is from the place to which he has gone." (The Farran Family, 2013) To make sure that the ancestors are not forgotten they make offerings to them. They do this by pouring beer on the ground or bread under huts during festivals. Today most of the Zulu people have a Christian belief and still practice the belief of their ancestors too. There are two important people that help with communication with the spirit world. The first one is a diviner. A diviner is there to communicate with the spirits of the ancestors and then there is an herbalist. An herbalist makes a special mixture that can be eating and this is done to help influence ancestors. This mixture is called Muthi and it can be black or white. The white Muthi is a good mixture to help other people but the black Muthi mixture is bad and they say that if you use the black mixture that you are a witch. The Zulu people have someone called Isangoma , this is someone that heals often called a witchdoctor . This is a mistranslating because the person is neither a witch nor a doctor. The Zulu people do believe in witchcraft. The Zulu people can become bewitched and they say that this is done by a witch what they call an umthakathi. The have evil spirits called Imimoya emibi that influence their life. The ancestral spirits will be reverently welcomed by the whole family with their title of honour "makhosi! makhoso! makhosi!" Through inspiration by the ancestral spirits the isangoma is then believed to be able to ukubula (smell out) the source of the evil.(bbg,1999) The kinship is an important part of the Zulu people. The father has a lot of influence to his kids’ social, religious and political life. They life in large families and the children had multiple parents and if a parent would die they are never an orphan since there is always another parent around to take care of the child. The Zulu children have responsibilities very early in life . They took care of their younger siblings, this was mostly done by the older sisters and the older brother helped with the livestock and hunt small game. The marriage of the Zulu people is exogamous. But they are not allowed to marry any person that belongs to their father, mother, father’s mother’s and mother’s mother’s.

References http://www.uiowa.edu/~africart/toc/people/Zulu.html Traditional” healers” in Zululand 1999.Retrieved from http://bbg.org.za/tradheal.htm
Sithole, Mpilo. "Zulu." Encyclopedia of World Cultures Supplement. 2002. Encyclopedia.com. 11 Feb. 2013 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.
Zulu religion.The Farran Family 2013.Retrieved from.http://www.farran.abwe.org/zulu-religion