In Botswana, there is a tradition among the Tswana people that on New Year’s Day, lovers must have sex at midnight. Most of the time , this is only possible if the parties are in the privacy of their home. The result of this tradition is that , in January, there are many divorces where one of the reasons for the divorce is that one of the parties failed to present himself or herself for the ceremony.

Among the Kalanga people of Botswana, a new bride was locked up in a room with her father in law.No one knows exactly what went on in the room, and no one was supposed to even speculate as to what went on in the room between the father of the groom and the bride. However, when the father eventually emerged from the room, the first thing he said to those outside was either “Yes, she is good and our son can marry her” or “No, take her back to her parents”!

In Kenya, a woman who cannot bear children is allowed to marry another woman. No sexual relations take place between the two women.The deal of the marriage is that the “wife” will agree to sleep with whoever of the “husband’s” relatives the husband chooses so that she can bear children for her. If the wife slept with any unauthorized person, she was considered to have committed adultery and could be divorced by the woman as if she was married to a man. This is a practice that is still thriving among the Kikuyus of Kenya. All the children of the woman take the name of the “husband”, the other woman, and they are treated as if they were her biological children. Women who usually marry other women are usually women considered wealthy in the community, but who for some reason could not bear children. The practice was to enable the rich woman to produce an heir for her estate. The real biological fathers of the children were never to be disclosed to anyone, including the children themselves, because the woman was their father. The wife was supposed to stay with her husband, and do everything that wives do for their husbands except have sex. If she moved out of the home that was considered desertion.

Among the Ndebele people of Zimbabwe, a good son-in-law is a very valuable thing, and families will do anything to keep a good man in their family. Therefore, when a good man’s wife dies, the youngest girl in the family is persuaded to marry the man, so as to keep him in the family.The good news is that the marriage is voluntary on both parties. There is usually more pressure to broker such a marriage where the dead woman has young children, and there is fear that an unrelated step-mother could be cruel to the children. The son-in-law has to have a good record as a husband to be given this honor.

In the Kgatleng district of Botswana, there is a belief among the Bakgatla people of the area that baboons are their relatives.As a result, in this district , no one is allowed to offend a baboon. These animals get away with anything including stealing from people’s cars, and throwing things at people. At one time , the baboons, descended on a Dutch Hospital set at the foot of a hill on one end of the village. The workers in the hospital,especially the expatriates, were scared of chasing the animals away for fear of offending the local people. Years earlier, there had been a riot in the village when a foreign motorist ran over and killed a baboon. the poor motorist was accused of having committed the deed deliberately.In the Central District of then same country, the Bangwato people treat the impala the same way. The animal frequently ravages their fields, and they will not do anything to it.