KUTCHINGA

By Sol de Carvalho

A gigolo is summoned to have sex with a widow who has just lost her husband. This is the extreme of the forced Mozambican tradition, Kutchinga. When a man dies, his window must accept to have sexual relations with the deceased older brother. Wedding traditions mean that the wife that gets married becomes property of the man's family. It must be determined if the couples belongings will remain with the man's family. This is the reason for a "ritual" that is still hugely widespread and assumes bizarre forms with the hiring of male prostitutes for the performance to take place.