Ndebele peoples culture
Southern and Northern African Ndebele people preserved their cultural identity. Art, life, and language profile for Ndebele of South African and Zimbabwe culture. Southern African Ndebele people maintained the use of the isiNdebele language, rituals, customs and art forms as a means of asserting their African Ndebele identity and resistance to outsiders.
Ndebele African people tribe art, history, and language.
Explore and Understand Africa Through Her Food and Culture
1-26-2010
The Nguni tribes represent nearly two-thirds of South Africa's Black population divided into four distinct groups; the Central Nguni (the Zulu-speaking peoples), the Southern Nguni (the Xhosa-speaking peoples), the Swazi people from Swaziland and adjacent areas and the Ndebele people of the Northern Province and Mpumalanga.
Traditionally the Ndebele wife
would wear rings called idzila as a status symbol around her arms, legs, and
neck. These outward symbols can be removed only in case of death of the spouse.
Idzila was worn by the wife to embody her until death does us part union and devotion
to her husband.
Husbands used to provide their wives with the idzila rings. The
more prosperous husbands could afford to by his wife more idzila rings thus the
more rings the wife would wear the greater her status in the Ndebele community.
Today it is no longer common
practice to wear these rings permanently. Over time, among the youngest
populations, this custom to wear the idzila for a lifetime is disappearing. Each
African culture is a unique answer to the question of what it means to be
human. In today’s rapidly changing world, people from Africa worry about losing
their traditional culture, the traditional way of life is getting lost.
One Ndebele beauty custom that
has survived the modern way of life is elaborate wall paintings. The Ndebele wall paintings have a strong
symbolic value and are closely linked to the home and to the relationship of
the person. Women paint on the outside walls and sometimes also on the interior
walls with rich geometric patterns learned from childhood. The walls are
changed and repainted in particular moments of family life.
The South African Ndebele origins
are unknown however, their history can be traced back to chief Mafana in the
1600’s. The Ndebele first officially recorded chief, chief Mafana was succeeded
by chief Mhlanga. The Ndebele second
chief Mhlanga had a son named Musi who decided to leave his homeland. Chief
Mhlanga did not name an heir and after his death, his two sons argued over the
position and the tribe divided into two divisions, the Manala, and the Ndzundza.
Mampuru and 30 men murdered Mampuru's
brother Sekhukune on August 23, 1882, he then went into hiding. Commandant
General Piet Joubert was ordered to find Mampuru. Joubert located Mampuru after the Ndzundza
tribe women were tortured into revealing his whereabouts at Erholweni Mapochs
Caves on October 12, 1882.
It was only after the Boer forces
with the aid of other tribal chiefs surrounded the caves cutting off food and
water supplies. Mampuru was sentenced to death and died at the gallows on
November 22, 1883, in Pretoria South Africa. The war was ended after eight
months and one day, on July 8, 1883.
The First Boer War disturbed the
cohesive tribal structure of the Ndzundza-Ndebele when they lost the battle and
their tribal lands were confiscated. However, the Ndebele preserved their distinct
cultural identity. They maintained the use of the isiNdebele language, rituals,
customs and art forms as a means of asserting their cultural identity and
resistance to outsiders.
Ndebele wall paintings have
strong symbolic value and are closely linked to the home and to the relationship
of the person within. Ndebele Women paint on the outside walls and sometimes
also on the interior with rich geometric patterns.
The walls are changed and
repainted in particular moments of family life. This art form has developed in
the second half of the nineteenth century, using bright of the brightest
colors. Earth tones were used in the past.
Did you know?
There are three main groups of Ndebele people;
The Southern Transvaal Ndebele (now Gauteng and Mpumalanga)
The Northern Transvaal Ndebele (now Limpopo Province) around the towns of Mokopane (Potgietersrus) and Polokwane (Pietersburg).
The Ndebele people of Zimbabwe, who were called the Matabele by the British.
