NONGOMA, South Africa  The bull was badly outnumbered, and while its muscular body, thick black hide and rock-hard horns offered significant advantages, this was not a brawl the animal was likely to win. Forty Zulu warriors were circling about, there to kill it with their bare hands.

Penned up in the royal kraal, the bull trotted around for a while, looking nervously for an escape. Then it hesitated, and the warriors  all in their late teens or early twenties  moved in, their hands reaching for anything to grasp, the tail, the legs, those horns.

The killing of the bull is part of Ukweshwama, an annual ceremony that celebrates a new harvest. It is a day of prayer when Zulus thank their creator and their ancestors. By tradition, a new regiment of young warriors is asked to confront a bull to prove its courage, inheriting the beast’s strength as it expires. It is believed this power then transfers to the Zulu king.

Image By tradition, a new regiment confronts a bull to prove its courage, inheriting the beast’s strength as it dies. It is believed this power then transfers to the Zulu king. Credit... Benedicte Kurzen for The New York Times

Usually, the Ukweshwama is viewed by outsiders as little more than a curiosity. King Goodwill Zwelithini is largely a ceremonial figure these days, his monarchy more an emotional bond than a political reality. But this year, a South African animal rights group took up the cause of the doomed bull, assailing the slaying as unnecessarily cruel. Fissures were pried open in South African society, and the back-and-forth between the two sides became ugly.