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UNDOUBTEDLY, lunar narratives predominate among most African communities when it comes to issues pertaining to astronomy. Though we have penned several articles on perceptions of the moon, we do not seem to be anywhere near the point where we can say we are about to exhaust the tales.
What gives me some sense of satisfaction though is that readers are keenly following and reading the stories with some of them responding and commenting on the articles. In the process, I learn more and reflect with a rejuvenated and sharpened mind.
One reader responded favourably. “The piece on Journey to the Stars was an eye opener to the lost generation of our days about the moon’s horns. I remember my mother, whenever a new moon appeared, she would say, ‘watch out for the two horns of the moon. When they point to the right, it generally means good health, but when they are upright, it means bad health.’ That proved true for me.”
We have said before that because of holding such beliefs and perceptions ancient Africans and, indeed other ancients, sought a deeper and more enlightened understanding and knowledge of astronomy. On cosmic bodies, the fate of humans including health and life, were legibly and indelibly etched for all to read, consummate and, where necessary and feasible, take corrective measures.
To be forewarned is to be forearmed. That was a pointer to the connectedness between cosmic circumstances and the quality of life of human beings on earth. The heavens prophesied the fate for the humans who were au fait with the cosmic language, as it were.
Indeed, the horns of the moon exhibited different tilts and orientations from one lunar month to the next. To some communities, the dispositions of lunar horns had some bearing on the people’s state of health and life.
Good health and good life are two sides of the same coin. When health is poor, life is threatened. Illness, which suggests a diminished condition of health, may result in death, the total absence of life as we understand and know it.
There were thus practical and beneficial results from seeking some intimate and incisive knowledge of astronomy to glean indicators, pointers and hints about changing prospects for a people’s cosmos-prophesied state of health and life. When the horns were upright, the prospects for good health were reduced.
There were descriptive words that the Ndebele people, for example, used with regard to the disposition of the lunar horns and the predicted state of health and life. The horns announced and brought bad news health wise. “Inyanga ibuthile” and that expressed a “collecting moon”, laden with illnesses that translate to bad health and poor quality of life.
A crescent moon is like a vessel and depending on its disposition, it contains or empties illnesses. A tilt meant it was emptying, “ichithile.” What was being emptied were the various illnesses during the in-coming lunar month. The moon, in the manner that its horns were arranged in relation to whether it was holding or emptying illnesses, predicted or foretold the future.
A dark moon is a term that is linked to prospects or implications for health. Here western and African astronomical ideas converge. The Ndebele people will refer to the day of the dark moon as “elimnyama,” the dark or black day. In both cases, it is about the absence of light and hence the resulting darkness. For the Africans, it was a day when energy potency was greatly reduced.
It was a day, in fact a number of days on both sides of the dark day (waxing and waning), that were associated with increasing of reducing energy potency. They were days when energy-depended rituals were not conducted, when equally energy-depended ceremonies and festive events were not conducted.
Intense heat and light may not be desirable conditions for life. The moon is not a luminous or heat-producing cosmic body. We see it through sunlight that it reflects. Reflected light is not that harsh in comparison to direct light from the sun.
These are perceptions that associate the sun with death while the moon, of moderated and mediated light and heat, is associated with life.
Light, darkness, health and life are interconnected concepts about presence or absence of energy and the resulting states or situations. We sometimes hear the Ndebele people say, “Bawelwe liyezi elimnyama.” A dark cloud has befallen them. Life has been lost, metaphorically. Misfortune has befallen them. There is some link between life and light. The absence of light results in darkness.
The state of darkness portends ill-health and the related poor health. The dark moon was a lazy day when work, especially that of a spiritual dimension, was not done.
It is for this reason that moon phases were keenly tracked and observed as each phase marked altering degrees of darkness and light with implications for energy potency and state of health and life. The Khoi-Khoi succinctly captured this phenomenon and concept when they perceived the moon as “the Lord of Light and Life”.
The term darkness may be used to refer to the absence of enlightening and enlightened thought. It suggests a state of mental disorientation, tiredness, confusion and loss of direction and the state of straight thinking. “Sekumnyama kimi!” It is as if light shines and imparts wisdom to the mind. Darkness on the other hand, is a state of absence, of absence of light energy and the wisdom and sharpness of mind that it is associated with.
Sometimes we underestimate the role played by language.
The tendency is to see it as no more than a medium of communication. That is true in the present. Language is a product of the interaction of the mind represented in symbolic words or writing.
Knowledge ideas and information that are generated are stored in the language. That gleaned knowledge was stored in language to be availed to future generations in order to avoid reinventing the wheel. What is known ought to be carried into the future so that the present and future generations benefit from knowledge generated and archived in the past and extended into the present and the future? Communities exist by recreating themselves.
Through accessing past knowledge, we inherit experiences and interactions between the ancients and their environments. We derive self-confidence, positive self-image and egos to face the future with determination. A given community becomes one that recreates itself and is assured of attaining continuity, eternity, perpetuity and endlessness like the cosmic bodies that Africans have always sought to replicate on their cultural plane on earth.
We acquire some sense of rootedness and positive orientation and the zeal and motivation to face our daily challenges in a positive frame of mind.
Language is important for our continued survival. It is a resource that we use to find our way in the world of challenges, trials and tribulations. We refer to archived knowledge in our languages.
It is against this background and realisation that we regret the death of a language or its reduced status. It is only proper that a language be a democratic right to hold and cherish. As we strive towards language preservation, we are in fact preserving our own social lives as diverse communities with our languages expressing that diversity. Language is a community’s memory bank.
Language is not an issue about numbers. Whether a hundred thousand people speak a given language or a hundred million people communicate through it, what matters is the archived knowledge and information. Archived knowledge is best-retrieved in the manner it was archived, including the language that archived it. In terms of archived knowledge and information there is no scope for minority or majority.
Preoccupation with numbers is an oppressive and repressive agenda that does not serve the interests of humanity.
Online Reporter