The South African
LIFESTYLE MAY 2012
Thabisa Rulumeni A young South African living in New York City
USA $2.99 South Africa/Foreign $ 3.99
Umntwana WomXhosa uThabisa Akude A lovely young South African lady, living in the vibrant streets of New York. She is Dressed in a beaded traditional Zulu beads that were hand crafted by the women in the townships (urban areas). Although today the value and symbolism of having and wearing the beads is not as significant as it was in the past. The symbolism of the semi-precious stones used for beadwork in the 11th century is said to hold power and bestow luck on those who wore beads made from them. In some cases the beads would be blessed by uSangoma who is also known as a Traditional Healer. The Traditional Healer would use herbs to bless the owner of the beads. The modern day South African embraces their cultural heritige but is also open minded t all the other South African cultures. Thabisa is a good example of that, she is Xhosa and the beads she is wearing are Zulu beads
10
The South African Lifestyle May 2012
South African dishes
s in NewTraditional York Meals
Ukudla Kumnandi DELICIOUS FOOD A traditional South African recipe known as pap en vleis (meat), is loved by millions of South Africans and tourists. It consists mainly of maize meal, water and salt although one may add other ingredients as desired. It is best enjoyed with boerewors and accompanied with a tomato and onion relish (sous). A tasty treat for any braai lover.
Ingredients for the Pap: 500 ml water 1 tsp salt 3 cups maize meal
Directions: 1. First boil about 4 cups of the water in a pot. 2. Set aside about 1/4 of your mielie meal and mix the rest with about 3 or 4 cups of water to make a thick paste – make sure you have a strong arm and wooden spoon!
16
The South African Lifestyle May 2012
3. Then slowly add this paste to the boiling water, stirring all the time, this will prevent lumps from forming and bring to the boil again. Keep cooking and stirring for a few more minutes. 4. Then slowly add the remaining mielie meal to the pot. The pap should be very thick and smooth, it should then begin to pull away from the sides of the pot and form a large ball. Cook for a few minutes more. 5. That’s it, then transfer it to a bowl and serve your pap.
Ingredients for the Lamb Chops: 2 large garlic cloves, crushed 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary leaves 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves Pinch cayenne pepper Coarse sea salt 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil 6 lamb chops, about 3/4-inch thick
Directions: 1. In a food processor fitted with a metal blade add the garlic, rosemary, thyme, cayenne, and salt. Pulse until combined. 2. Pour in olive oil and pulse into a paste. Rub the paste on both sides of the lamb chops and let them marinate for at least 1 hour in the refrigerator. 3. Remove from refrigerator and allow the chops to come to room temperature; it will take about 20 minutes. 4. Heat a grill pan over high heat until almost smoking, add the chops and sear for about 2 minutes. 5. Flip the chops over and cook for another 3 minutes for medium-rare and 3 1/2 minutes for medium.
Curry powder -- 2 teaspoons Tomatoes, chopped -- 3 Baked beans in tomato sauce -- 1 (15-ounce) can Salt and pepper -- to taste
Directions: 1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium flame. Add the onions, bell peppers, chile peppers, garlic and curry powder. Saute, stirring frequently, until the onions and peppers are cooked down and wilted, about 4 to 5 minutes. 2. Stir in the tomatoes and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for about 5 minutes. 3. Stir in the baked beans, salt and pepper and stir to heat through. Serve hot or cold.
Ingredients for the Chakalaka: Oil -- 3 tablespoons Onions, chopped -- 2 Bell peppers -- 2 Hot chile peppers, minced -- 2 or 3 Garlic, minced -- 2 or 3 cloves
Do not be shy now, It is not an Mnandi meal if you do not eat with your hands!
May 2012 The South African Lifestyle
17
Taal en Kultuur LANGUAGE AND CULTURE South Africans have been referred to as the ‘rainbow nation’, a title which epitomises the country’s cultural diversity. The population of South Africa is one of the most complex and diverse in the world. Of the 45 million South Africans, nearly 31 million are Black, 5 million White, 3 million Coloured and one million Indian. The population density is 32.9 people per km². The Black population is divided into four major ethnic groups, namely Nguni, Sotho, Shangaan-Tsonga and Venda. There are numerous subgroups of which the Zulu and Xhosa (two subgroups of the Nguni) are the largest. The majority of the White population is of Afrikaans descent (60%), with many of the remaining 40% being of British descent. Most of the Coloured population live in the Northern and Western Cape provinces, whilst most of the Indian population lives in KwaZulu Natal. The Afrikaner population is concentrated in the Gauteng and Free State provinces and the English population in the Western and Eastern Cape and KwaZulu Natal.. There are eleven official languages in South Africa, namely English, Afrikaans, Ndebele, Sepedi, Xhosa, Venda, Tswana, Southern Sotho, Zulu, Swazi and Tsonga. View more information about each (see below), including the origins of the language and where it is spoken in South Africa. Below is a list of all the 11 official langues:
Xhosa also known as the click language
It is marked by a number of tongue-clicking sounds. Those that speak the language are usually involved in an ethnic group known as the amaXhosa, and to them this language is known as isiXhosa. An interesting fact is that the word “Xhosa” is derived from the Khoisan language, which means “angry men”. A majority of the languages in South Africa which involve tongue-clicking, originate from the Khoisan.
Zulu
24% of South Africans, Zulu is considered to be their home language and 50% of the South Africa’s inhabitants understand the language. Zulu falls under the Nguni group and is one of the Bantu languages. Xhosa and Zulu are the only two languages mutually understandable. The Zulu nation came into existence around the 14th century. Although there are many Bantu migrants, back then Zulu language adopted many of the sounds that make up the language from the San and from the Khoi. The San and the Khoi were the first residents in South Africa. Evidence of this is the Zulu’s clicking consonants used in their language. Other indigenous languages before were all oral languages until missionaries from Europe arrived. This was the time Zulu became written - when missionaries that had arrived jotted down the interesting facts concerning this language using a Latin alphabet. The year was 1883, and this was the year the first book containing the Zulu language was produced - A Bible.
Afrikaans
The word Afrikaans in Dutch means “African”. Afrikaans was created in Cape Town, which is home to various nationalities. The nationalities that make up the population of South Africa are Indonesians, Madagascans, Khoikoi, Dutch Settlers and West Africans. Afrikaans has become a new form of Dutch. Afrikaans’s original
dialect is referred to many as Kitchen Dutch, Cape Dutch or African Dutch. In the late 19th century Afrikaans was recognised as the separate language when Dutch was considered. 1961 was the year when Afrikaans became one of the 11 official languages with English.
Venda
This language known as Luvenda, Venda or Tshivenda, originated from the Bantu language and is also related to Niger and Congo languages. Those that speak Venda are part of South Africa’s population, and it is one of the 11 official South African languages. Around 666 000 of Tshivenda speakers live in the Northern parts of South Africa’s Limpopo Province. Those that speak Tshivenda have a Royal Family and there are also traditions that relate to this.
Ndebele
People of the Ndebele culture and language can be found throughout Gauteng. Their language may be separated into the chief dialects; these are Southern Ndebele and Northern Ndebele. The last census was taken around the year of 1996 and it was then reported that there are approximately 500,000 individuals in the country of South Africa that are able to speak the Ndebele language and who belong to this cultural group. These people often get confused with the Ndebele speaking people in Zimbabwe or Botswana, but their language has more in common with Zulu and not Ndebele.
Sepedi
The Sepedi language is usually spoken in Mpumalanga, Gauteng and the Limpopo province, but a little bit of it is also spoken in Botswana. This language is a part of the Bantu Group which belongs to the Niger-Congo and it is very closely connected with the Setswana and Sesotho languages.
21
Sestwana
It is more commonly spoken in the north western parts of South Africa where it borders with Botswana, as Setswana is also their national language and as many as 70% of Botswana’s population speak it. But you’ll also find Setswana spoken in Namibia and Zimbabwe.
Southern Sotho
Being one of the eleven official languages of South Africa, Southern Sesotho is spoken by more than five million of the South African population as well as peoples in Lesotho, Botswana, Namibia and Zambia. In Lesotho, Southern Sesotho is one of the two official languages and is spoken by more than 85% of inhabitants. According to scholars, the original written form of this language was based on the dialect from Tlokwa and today it is mostly based on the dialects from the Kwena and Fokeng.
Tsonga
The speakers of this language are often referred to as Shangaans, but the Tsongas say this is incorrect as that term should only be used for the Tsonga people who are living in Mozambique. Even though the Tsonga speakers are spread throughout Southern Africa, the majority of them live in the Limpopo province in South Africa. There are approximately 1,646,000 Tsonga speakers in Limpopo. Tsonga is one of South Africa’s eleven official languages as it is spoken by so many of its residents.
Swati
Swati one of the official languages of South Africa and many schools teach this language to the students only if they would like to learn it, while at other schools it is a compulsory subject to take. It is a similar language to Ndebele, Xhosa and Zulu and they are often confused by people that are unaware of the differences these four languages have.
The image on the left , is a picture of a Djembe drum, which is a rope-tuned skin-covered drum played with bare hands. The drum has been set upside down, after the drummer has finished using it.
The image on the bottom right is of a Dundunba Drum inspired by the Northern Africans drums.
The image above is a sculpture of a South African Tribe of elders sitting around a mbowla with thick woven blanket on a cold night.
The culture of South Africa is known for its ethnic and cultural diversity. The South African black majority still has a substantial number of rural inhabitants who lead largely impoverished lives. It is among these people, however, that cultural traditions survive most strongly; as blacks have become increasingly urbanised and Westernised, aspects of traditional culture have declined. Urban blacks usually speak English or Afrikaans in addition to their native tongue. There are smaller but still significant groups of speakers of Khoisan languages who are not included in the eleven official languages, but are one of the eight other officially recognised languages. There are small groups of speakers of endangered languages, most of which are from the Khoi-San family, that receive no official status; however, some groups within South Africa are attempting to promote their use and revival.
the middle class often study and work abroad for greater exposure to the markets of the world. Indian South Africans preserve their cultural heritage, languages and religious beliefs, being either Christian, Hindu or Muslim and speaking English, with Indian languages like Hindi, Telugu, Tamil or Gujarati being spoken less frequently as second languages. The first Indians arrived on the Truro ship as indentured labourers in Natal to work the Sugar Cane Fields, while the rest arrived as traders. A post-apartheid wave of South Asian (including Pakistani) immigration has also influenced South African Indian culture. There is a much smaller Chinese South African community, made up of early immigrants, apartheid-era immigrants from Taiwan, and postapartheid immigrants from mainland China.
Members of middle class, who are predominantly white but whose ranks include growing numbers of black, coloured and Indian people, have lifestyles similar in many respects to that of people found in Western Europe, North America and Australasia. Members of May 2012 The South African Lifestyle
23
A.fric, from her remotest strand, Lifts to high heaven one fetter’d hand, And to the utmost of her chain Stretches the other o’er the main: Then, kneeling ‘midst ten thousand slaves, Utters a cry across the waves, Of power to reach to either pole, And pierce, like conscience, through the soul, Though dreary, faint, and low the sound, Like life-blood gurgling from a wound, As if her heart, before it broke, Had found a human tongue, and spoke. “Britain! not now I ask of thee Freedom, the right of bond and free; Let Mammon hold, while Mammon can, The bones and blood of living man; Let tyrants scorn, while tyrants dare, The shrieks and writhings of despair; An end will come -- it will not wait, Bonds, yokes, and scourges have their date, Slavery itself must pass away, And be a tale of yesterday. “But now I urge a dearer claim, And urge it by a mightier name: Hope of the world! on thee I call, By the great Father of us all, By the Redeemer of our race, And by the Spirit of all grace; Turn not, Britannia, from my plea; -- So help Thee GOD as Thou help’st me! Mine outcast children come to light From darkness, and go down in night; -- A night of more mysterious gloom Than that which wrapt them in the womb: Oh! that the womb had been the grave Of every being born a slave! Oh! that the grave itself might close The slave’s unutterable woes! But what beyond that gulf may be, What portion in eternity, For those who live to curse their breath, And die without a hope in death, I know not, and I dare not think; Yet, while I shudder o’er the brink Of that unfathomable deep, Where wrath lies chain’d and judgments sleep, To thee, thou paradise of isles! Where mercy in full glory smiles; Eden of lands! o’er all the rest By blessing others doubly blest, -- To thee I lift my weeping eye; Send me the Gospel, or I die; The word of CHRIST’s salvation give, That I may hear his voice and live.”
James Montgomery
INGOMA A SONG POEM
27
Proudly South African