zulu proverb

Zulu Proverb - Unyawu aluna mpumulo

Qhakijane — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 05:40:34 -0600

Unyawu aluna mpumulo - Literally: The foot does not have a nose.

Background.

This is said of a smart-aleck type of a guy, who eventually walks into a trap as a well deserved “serve him right” situation.

… because had he known, where his feet were taking him, they would have smelled the trouble and gave him due warning to keep off; as it were feet do not have olfactory faculties and through his own advice he walked into a sticky situation.

So it sometimes reads: The wise guy eventually walks into trouble of his own making.

Zulu culture, language & traditions

Zulu Proverb - Ukufihla induku emcubeni

Qhakijane — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 05:37:01 -0600

Ukufihla induku emcubeni - Literally: To hide a staff in the cow dung

Background:

In Zulu culture the cattle kraal is the main meeting place where ordinary, ceremonial and spiritual matters are discussed and enacted . It’s smells of urine, and cow dung are reassuring to the men folk because they mean life, wealth and continuity of the bloodline. It is alleged the first creatures to emerge with man from the primordial bed of reeds were cattle. Without cattle there can be no African. All important rituals involve the lowly cow.

Over the years the cattle kraal is covered by a thick warm layer of manure that traps heat during the day and offers a warm solar blanket in the evenings. Some clans bury their senior male members along the cattle kraal under the warm blanket of cattle dung. Its walls are made of stones and the gnarled poisonous branches of the umsimbithi tree to keep away the inevitable predators. Generally there is a designed area where women do not tread upon in the kraal.

The treacherous fellow is the one who on pretext invites you for a serious discussion in the kraal but with the intention of taking you by surprise by reaching a concealed weapon well hidden in the carpet of cattle dung.

In view of the holiness of the place and the treachery involved, this idiom is used to express extreme displeasure against betrayal and treachery. Zulus enter the cattle kraal unarmed and not anticipating any danger or hostility.

Zulu culture, language & traditions

Zulu Proverb - Ukhamba lufuze imbiza

Qhakijane — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 05:33:37 -0600

Ukhamba lufuze imbiza - Literally: The calabash resembles the fire pot.

Background:

This is said of a child or offspring who takes after the parent. The obvious logic being that the same clay mined at the same mud hole, was used by the potter in making both the fire pot and the calabash. Therefore the contents may differ but the substantial matter of constitution is the same for both the fire pot and the calabash.

So this proverb actually says: Don’t you see, he actually takes after his father anyway!

There is agreement here with other ancient cultures in the Middle East and Egypt who actually saw the Creator as the Great Potter who fashioned men and women with his hands and in a way He sees fit. This metaphor was not lost to Zulus as well.

This proverb is not used for physical resemblance but for conduct, temperament and other behavioural attributes in a negative sense.

A well seasoned human being, is the one who spent most time in the Potter’s hands and in the oven, being able to withstand all problems that life throws in his or her way. But the bad human being is obviously fashioned from poor clay, and has spent little time in the oven of personal maturity and this carries even to his offspring.

Zulu culture, language & traditions

Zulu Proverb - Umendo awuthunyelwa gundane

storytelling — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 05:29:39 -0600

Umendo awuthunyelwa gundane - Literally: You can’t send a mouse to spy out your intended marriage.

Background:

This proverb is directed at a young maiden. The Zulu culture being patriarchal, the young maiden literally married into her husband’s family. There are many distinct cultural events associated with marriage in the Zulu culture.

E.g. Ijadu – is some kind of debut ball in which marriageable maidens were literally paraded and the prospective suitors had a field day preening themselves and trying to make a good impression of themselves.

Ukugcagca – the actual ceremony of marriage accompanied by all kinds of rituals.

Ukwenda – the actual journey and state of having joined a husband in matrimony.

Umendo being a state of being married. In other Southern African cultures like the Chewa , Shona, Nyanja , Sena the word kwenda still retains its original meaning of “undertaking a journey” hence ulendo is a safari or a journey while mlendo is the esteemed traveler who is culturally entitled to be well looked after and Africa not having Inns and B& B’s every family had a duty to look well after a traveler.

The young bride always found out after the event that her life at her new in-laws would be fraught with all kinds of relationship problems. This proverb was some kind of counseling offered to the young bride that had she known she would have sent a surreptious little mouse that would have spied the place for her and told her of the problems she was about to face, maybe she would have walked away..

A Zulu man may only build himself a family compound at a place designated to him by his father. He remained a minor until his father died. Generally these homesteads included extended family members of brothers, aunts, unmarried sisters, and all members of a polygamous marriage. This has enriched the Zulu culture with a refined culture full of diplomatic language and etiquette well calculated to avert the obvious clash of interests that the extended family members found themselves thrown it.

When an elderly woman tells a young Makoti (bride), that “umendo awuthunyelwa gundwane” it is a civilized way of saying I also acknowledge the problems that you experience but take it from me I am still around and surviving; it’s not the end of the world..

In a culture where divorce was unheard of and never easily countenanced, umendo is a form of a journey-of-no-return.; and quite often the new bride literally wailed and cried her eyes dry for leaving her maiden home.

However, something must be said of the resilience and strength of African women. While men may be the virile masculine bricks that create the family wall, African women are the mortar that bind and keep the bricks permanently together. It is not unusual for Zulu’s to ask each other in greetings with a total stranger: Uzalwa umma bani? (“Which mother gave birth to you?”/who is your mother?).

This affirms the sterling role which women play in creating clans and in enriching the clan gene pool and in strengthening the clan. Sometimes the mother may be Swazi, or Xhosa or Ndebele or Tsonga or Sotho, that never detracts or debases the Zulu culture. It is not far off to assume that some 40% of Zulu mothers come from outside the ZULU culture. If anything African women are true polyglots and in their own quiet way, help to improve the culture of the husband. Zulu as a culture and language has remained singularly intact.

Overtime this has contributed immensely to the virility of the Zulu language and culture. No wonder the Zulu language had a singular feat of having a vocabulary of over 20 000 pure Zulu words without the benefit of a schooling system, press media libraries and dictionaries. This was well documented by missionaries towards the turn of the 19th century.

Zulu culture, language & traditions