Widows' experiences of spousal mourning among AmaXhosa: an interpretative phenomenological study

This study was conducted on the mourning rituals of the AmaXhosa widows of the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. The study focused on the descriptive presentation of the experiences of the AmaXhosa widows in the Buffalo City municipality of the Province. The study sought to establish the widows’ perceptions regarding the mourning rituals and to interpret their experiences within the context of contemporary cultural, religious, gender and socio-political influences. The experiences among the widows interviewed were found to have a similar context but their perceptions about the mourning rituals were different between the widows younger than 40 years and those older than 50 years. Widows from urban and rural areas of East London, Mdantsane Township and from within a 60 kilometre radius of East London were interviewed. Purposive random sampling was used to identify an equal number of either urban or rural voluntary participants for the study. Structured interviews were held with widows ranging in age from 29 to 91 years. An interpretative phenomenological analysis of the recorded discussions was conducted. The experiences of the AmaXhosa widows during the conduct of the mourning rituals are described. The key findings of the study indicated that most of the widows felt they had to go through the mourning rituals mainly to show respect for their departed husbands and so that the dignity of the family and clan was maintained. The mourning rituals seemed mostly to have negative implications for the widows such as a lack of family and financial support and being treated as social outcasts; however the rituals also seemed to help the women adjust to their new status as widows. Although the mourning rituals were embedded in the socio-cultural tradition generally followed by the AmaXhosa, religious beliefs also influenced some of the traditions by introducing changes in the way some widows conducted the mourning rituals. For example, some religions advocated for shorter periods of mourning than usual as well as wearing different types of mourning clothes from the usual black or purple dress. Overall the perceptions of the older widows aged above 50 years revealed that they had no reservations about performing the mourning rituals and quite readily and unquestioningly accepted the customs. The younger widows aged below 40 years on the other hand felt that the mourning rituals were biased against women and did not serve a useful purpose and even proposed changes to the manner in which the mourning rituals are conducted particularly the shortening of the mourning period from 12 to 6 months or less. However, they seemed to recognize the role played by the mourning ritual in lessening and possibly healing the pain and sorrow caused by their bereavement