adminSOME scholars have had to contend with and accept that there is a whole field of intellectual enquiry known as African cultural astronomy. I have in the past said to understand African culture one has to go beyond the physical enactments and dig deeper into the underlying philosophical underpinnings. In fact, it would be more accurate to say African culture in its broad manifestations and ramifications is an expression of a people’s cosmology.
“African arts convey much more than meets the eye. Their frequently stylised forms encode ideas rooted in a group’s history, belief systems, aesthetic values, and social, economic, and cultural constructs, as well as notions based on its observations of natural phenomena – both terrestrial and celestial.”
Observing the night sky provided the Africans with insights relating to the bahaviour of the cosmos.
The cosmology that they then developed was expressed through the arts and other human activities of a cultural, economic, social and political nature. Divine kingship developed from such notions gleaned from the cosmos. The king was epitomised as the sun, with its nurturing attributes and yet its glare could not be gazed upon.
The moon, on the other hand, was conceptualised as female and controlled several human economic, cultural and social activities on earth, itself perceived as female. Quite a lot of African cosmology derives from the observed behaviour of the moon. The investiture of king was timed to coincide with the full moon. In Zimbabwe the timing of the outbreak of Imfazo II of 1896 coincided with the full moon in March 1896.
The light of the full moon is the metaphor for purification. The moon cleanses no wonder the Ndebele chanted, “Kholiwe, hamba lomkhuhlane!” Entailed in the chant is the idea that the moon should take away with it some illness. Is this not a statement of African cultural astronomy? The moon embodies the idea of life and death through its waxing and waning. Full moon is white and that is the colour which embodies renewal and rebirth.
For the purposes of this article the moon provides the temporal framework against which Barotseland’s (read Africans) diverse populations perform personal and societal acts of renewal and remembrance. Most ritual activity ceases during the weeks that the light of the moon wanes.
Cosmic cycles inform agricultural activities. Women, as females, worked the land, itself conceived as female. The female moon provided the temporal framework which governed the work routine.
Among the Yoruba of Nigeria and neighbouring states women, associated with production of various earthly commodities were active in the market place while men tilled the land. So it was among the Ndebele and Princess Sidambe Khumalo. In last week’s article we referred to threshing after which the grain was ready for storage.
Before we look at the various strategies for grain preservation let us deal with a few aspects relating to some food dishes. While still in the field there was grain that deteriorated in quality. It turned black and powdery. Such spoilt grain, known as ingumane was stacked separately on its platform.
Ingumane was placed on a grass platter, isithebe and the black powder and clean grain separated in a process known as ukuhlungula. The blank powder, called intondolo, was mixed with water and boiled. Salt was added to taste and intondolo was used as relish.
We observed that grain storage was preceded by preservation which was a way of ensuring that the grain did not spoil or get devoured. Food had to be preserved so as to be consumed during the winter months when there was no crop production. Food preservation was informed by the identified threats to the grain. The threats were two-fold: the presence of moisture beyond certain limit and the presence of pests in the form of insects.
Grain storage among the Ndebele took the form of grass grain bins which were pear-shaped containers that were placed on platforms. There were women who were master crafters who made the grass grain bins, izilulu from a type of grass known as intungwa. There could be a number of them on a single platform. During a visit with Dr Irene Ndiweni to Sivalo area in Nkayi sometime last year we observed a disused platform that carried these grass grain bins more than a metre above ground level.
The openings or mouths for the bins were small and closed with grass and later small iron sheets.
The platforms rested on huge mopane poles big so that rain water would flow underneath without seeping into the bins and cause the grain to either germinate or spoil. At Old Bulawayo there are stone cairns at the back section within the Royal Enclosure, isigodlo.
The grass grain bins were placed directly on the stone cairns without the use of wooden platforms. Within the commoner Enclosure there was a ring of similar stone cairns. The stone cairns were markers of the grain storage area for the commoners.
In Nkayi where there are hardly any stones there had to be some adaptation. Wood was used to provide the pillars and the platforms on which nestled a cluster of grain bins. Old Bulawayo was located in a rocky place where stone cairns alone could be used to support the grass grain bins. This is how environmental dictates result in variations to old traditions.
Ash was added to the grain in the grass grain bins. There was ash at the bottom and then grain was added a little at a time so that there were alternating layers of grain and ash. As pointed out in some earlier article, the favourite ash was from a lead tree, umtswiri. Ash from umtswiri tree is very fine and ideal for the work at hand. The ash takes care of the pests that may physically destroy the grain by eating it or damaging it.
Insects breathe through spiracles, breathing holes located in their abdomen. The fine ash clogs or closes the small apertures resulting in the insects dying through asphyxia. Grain in a grass grain bin was preserved through recourse to elimination of water coming into contact with stored grain.
The grain itself would have been allowed to dry to certain levels so as to have little water content in them. High water content may result in the gain deteriorating in quality. Secondly, the pests were gotten rid of through the addition of ash which killed them through suffocation as the spiracles were blocked.
In addition to the grass grain bins Princess Sidambe Khumalo, like other Ndebele people, had some alternative storage facilities within the cattle enclosure/byre/pen/kraal. During unsettled times the grass grain bins risked going up in flames following attack by the enemy. There had to be some reserve grain somewhere relatively safe. Such a place was the cattle pen where pear-shaped bins were dug and grain deposited in them.
In the next article we shall turn to these underground bins, imilindi, to see how their construction took care of the two twin-threats to the grain: moisture and pests.
Online Reporter