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For the day of her marriage and throughout her pregnancy, the new bride put on a duiker duiker, name for members of a group of small, light antelopes, found in thick brush and forest over most of Africa.
Hide apron, called isibhodiya (pl. izibhodiya) or ingcayi (pl. izingcayi), usually adorned with beads and brass studs, that covered her body from chest to knee.
The apron was intended to symbolically provide the woman with a safe and speedy delivery, and was later used to hold the baby on her back. The piece would also have doubtlessly helped convey the new social status that pregnancy brought her.
In the early Zulu kingdom only the highest-ranking members of society were allowed to wear brass ornaments. With this in mind, Kennedy (1991:55) has suggested that the use of brass studs on these hide aprons, relating to the older use of brass armlets, conveys high status on the wearer.
After the birth of her first child, a woman was allowed to adopt a beaded, incema grass (Juncus maritimus) belt, called ixhama (pl. amaxhama; Fig. 12) as an indication of the still higher rank that the successful birth brought her. The value of such works as emblems of prestige was often increased by the presence, along with the beads, of brass buttons. Thus, as a woman aged and went through the various age grade levels and stages of marriage, her increased social status was clearly indicated by various types of beadwork items.
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One who recovers from sickness, forgets about God. 
