Daily Sun (September 4 2014) - THE MOURNERS start smiling and clapping hands as the woman lifts her skirt and dances over the cooking pot.
It's a dance often performed when somebody dies violently in an accident or an attack.
IT'S CALLED THE MANTSALA AND IT IS MEANT TO CHASE AWAY BAD LUCK!
"I don't mind doing the dance because I do it to protect my family," said Tedu Seminu (23).
Wiwis Mere died in a car accident last week.
The funeral for the 27-year-old Vodacom league soccer player took place in Amalia, near Schweizer-Reneke, North West on Saturday.
The Barolong and Batlhaping clans of the Batswana people believe the mantsala keeps bad luck away from the mourning family and is usually performed when the person who died suffered an unnatural death.
The elders cut out the private parts of a slaughtered cow and cook them.
"That's when a relative dances around the pot while other mourners sing and clap hands for her," said Wiwis' brother, Kakanyo Mere (40).
"After the dance the cooked meat is eaten by the cousins of the dead person."
He explained that the dance was important to them because if it is not done, family members could experience bad luck like vutha, road accidents or loss of jobs.
"There is nothing wrong with this dance. We do it every time we have a similar tragedy in the family," Wiwis' brother Sizwe Mere (37) said.
Bakang Phetlhu, chief of the Batlhaping boo Phuduhutswana, said the ritual and dance is common among the Barolong and Batlhaping clans.
"It is important to respect the culture in order to live longer, so certain Batswana clans practise it at funerals," said Phetlhu.
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