Saturday was Heritage Day so the team went on a culture tour. We began with a wait for the mini bus that would take us! Our guide, Rupert arrived at 7:45 - and about 8:25 - and several calls from Rupert, our ride showed up. (The team has spent quite a bit of time waiting for a taxi that we've called or scheduled!)
The first stop was the Northern Sotho Outdoor Museum. Although this is spring - and we've had some hot days - upper 80's - Saturday was cold - 60's and windy for this visit. We were greeted by a guide - and it appeared that the museum was closed for the holiday and had opened for our tour. We began inside where we learned a bit about this history of the area - it goes back for thousands of years. The floor of the building was cow dung - which was used throughout the village for floors, walls, and steps. Cow dung is also used to made a special jar that's put inside a grain basket to get out the bugs. We learned that cow dung has ammonia - so that's what keeps the grain from being eaten by the bugs.
There's lots of clay in the area - so there were many clay pots. Many very old clay pots have been found in the area - dating thousands of years ago. Clay pots come in many shapes - and each shape is for a special purpose - such as porridge, meat, sauces, etc. There is a special wooden jug for milk.
We then visited a group of building that were the 'newer' style - a group of huts made of cow dung, wooden beams for the room which was covered by straw. It had rained the night before - and yes it smelled! The group of huts is surrounded by a dung wall about 3 feet high. It was white washed and looked very nice. The several small building each had a purpose - cooking, storage, men's house, first wife house. etc. These buildings had doors high enough to enter standing up. The cooking house had a fire bit in the middle of the floor - and smoke went out in the space between the top of the wall and the roof.
Each compound has an alter to ancestors. In this 'newer' compound it was on the edge - in the traditional compound it's in the center. It's a scooped out hole - about 3 feet across - with a plant in the middle - aloe or some other small plant. There's a gourd and some jars nearby. The ancestors are given beer, blood, or snuff - depending on the reason for the 'visit'. Ancestors play a large role in the life of the group.
We then visited the tradition village compound. There we saw a dancer - dressed in strips of animal hide. After the dance, he demonstrated how to build a fire by rubbing sticks - and also weapons they used for fighting as well as hunting. This is a patriarchal society - and the chief and first son have special huts. First wife has a hut with 3 small rooms - a main room - and then one on each side which are for her guards. In the traditional village the door openings are about 3 feet high and 3 feet wide. Several of us crawled inside. There are no windows although a bit of light comes in from the opening between the walls and the roof. It was cold inside and a bit stuffy - but appeared to be good shelter from rain.
The other wives don't have guards - and there's often a hut for he favorite wife. This wife is chosen by the chief and brought into the village. The other wives come by arrangements with the families. When the chief dies, the favorite wife has to leave the village because she has no status. The other wives remain - and the first son then becomes chief.
The role of women is to gather - root vegetables, fruits, worms (for protein), do the cooking, and bear children - especially sons. The men hunt and play games - there was a demonstration of two games - one somewhat like checkers and the other a complicated game play in a series of small holes in the ground with pebbles that are moved around. Yes they ate worms - and yes they had cattle. But cattle are used in many ways - milk, cream and very importantly cow dung for building. On occasion a cow would be slaughtered for a special occasion. They also fermented some of the food - and yes they made beer - and got some protein this way. They also grew maize and ground is - using a hollowed out stone - and catching the ground meal in a piece of cloth. They also used vines to weave baskets.
There are still descendants of these families in the area and there's a rich tradition or oral history.
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