This is followed by 'go loma bogadi' ritual performed before the marriage celebration can take place. To perform this ritual, a beast is killed and a round piece of meat is cut from the 'milking side'. Arts & Culture interviewed some elders in Moshupa, Otukile Tsalaile (headman for Mmaseetsele ward), Maicho Mokgatlenyane (Mmaseetsele ward elder) and Kebonyewetsho Sephatla (Setswana traditional doctor) who shared their different views on the symbolic features of the different parts of a beast killed for 'go loma bogadi' ritual.
The herbs used for the two rituals, according to Sephatla, have a characteristic of the 'law' - hence should be obeyed, as they are used to guard the married couple from having extra-marital affairs. If not obeyed, the culprits then suffer from a disease called 'thotse'. When asked what happens if one of the couple dies not of 'thotse' disease but of any other thing that may bring about death, the informants said that another ritual is performed with some herbs that have to be drunk and some herb that makes one go through the period of 'boswagadi' (widowing).
