By Parata Daniel

WHEN A LION IS BORN

AN AFRIKAN EAGLE

Table of ContentsOUR HOME.............................................................................................2

CHILDHOOD............................................................................................4

BIRTH CEREMONIES.............................................................................5

FEEDING.................................................................................................7

NAMING...................................................................................................8

CIRCUMCISION......................................................................................9

UPBRINGING........................................................................................10

BECOMING A MEN...............................................................................11

MARRIAGE RITES................................................................................13

SOCIETY...............................................................................................14

ELDER ROLES......................................................................................15

THE LIVING...........................................................................................17

OUR HOMEWe lived in open plains of Southern Africa in a great rift valley of

Kavango River. We lived in Kraals, settlements scattered throughout the

expense of the Kavango River. Each Kraal is either surrounded by poles

walls to keep predators and enemies out. The number of Kraals major

gates represents the number of families living there. Within each Kraal

the people live in houses resembling Ndunda made of grass and

branches’ plastered with clay or mud sometimes we used rites.

The land is unconscious of the beauty of the land escape with very

green savannah but aware of the abidance of wildlife.

We entirely lived on milk, fish, mahangu, honey and meat. We believed

that the heaven gave us all that exists in the way of cattle, goats,

chicken, donkeys, dogs, horses, pigs and sheep’s and that no other

nation ought to possess any.

Where we live in the northern Namibia, wild animals like lion, cheetah

and an elephant is the symbol of bravery and pride. Lions have a special

presence. If you kill a lion, you are respected by everyone in the

community. Other warriors even make up great stories and songs about

how brave you are. So it is every young man’s dream to kill a lion at one

point or another. Growing up, I had a lot interaction with wild animals

Elephant’s, Rhinos, buffalos, Hyenas, Cheetah and many more wild

animals.

Our livelihood relied upon livestock, mainly cattle, but also goats, sheep,

donkeys, chicken, pigs, ducks and pigeons. Our homesteads consist of

few families, a wooden fence called Rugumbo made of different trees

from the savannah which protects the people from the wild animals and

enemies at night. While our livestock shelter consisted of a thorny fence

called Hambo made of acacia branches which protects the livestock at

night. Each family has its own gate into the compound and each married

woman has her own house. A man can have more than one wife which

means today polygamy. Our houses are made of thatch and mud or clay

soil plastered over a wooden frame.

The society revolves around age and gender. Men and women behave

according to the long established principles based on age. Males, for

example belong to an age-set determined by the date of circumcision,

which marks their initiation into manhood. Man of age-set may have

been born a dozen or more years apart, but in our society they are

regarded the same age and, like fraternity brothers, they will be friends

for life. The most recently circumcised male form a group or class,

essentially a brotherhood of warriors who are responsible for protecting

the community and its livestock. Warriors live separately from the

villages while going through the circumcision period, are not allowed to

eat any food seen or offered by a woman during their stay in the bush,

and spend their free time making themselves glamorous by wearing long

braids powdered with red ochre and by practicing their Hunting, crafting,

singing and dancing skills.

As many other African people practice their tradition has no significant

different from any other tribe on the continent. In our Kavango tradition

like any other African religion there are ceremonies and traditions

relating to child birth and childhood. A bride lives with her husband until

her pregnancy. Then she returns to her mother’s home, where she will

remain for the next three to four years. The husband cannot express any

interest in her or the baby. After two or three years, the woman will be

able to visit her husband, but not to live with him. Finally the woman

mother buys everything that is needed for brides home, she and the

baby return to the husband. The family of the men takes the gifts to the

new baby’s mothers as a sign of welcoming the generation into the

family. The family offers gifts as a sign of welcoming the new born baby.

The women will be dancing and singing traditional songs and praising in

what we call in our language as “Kulilkida”.

CHILDHOODWhen the baby is born the family of the mother’s baby then send a

message to the husband informing the husband the status of the baby

whether the baby is a boy or a girl. When the husband finds out that the

baby is a boy, he sits with his family to decide on the name of the baby.

It is important in our African culture that the men family has an upper

hand and is always the one to name the first child.

Then family of the men travels to go visit the new born baby with gifts

such as clothes, cattle and food for the baby boy. From the time babies

are able to walk, they are thrust into the realm of adult responsibilities.

Youth learn from their parents and elders how to manage the

homestead. Good children treat their elders with utmost respect and

perform chores without complaint.

BIRTH CEREMONIESThe people of Kavango in the northern Namibia have a ceremony after

birth of a baby, it is the ceremony performed by many other tribes across

Africa to cleanse the baby following birth.

The birth of a child is always a time of great rejoicing. It means that a

couple was blessed, and that the family unit and the community are

being perpetuated and strengthened. In many Kavango communities,

ritual festivities to celebrate the arrival of a child do not start until a few

days after the birth in order to make sure that the baby is healthy and will

live on.

Realizing birth is near; women attendants prepare ingredients for

application to the child’s umbilical cord. These consist of ash, powder

from roots and sugar, plus an egg-shaped poisonous fruit.

The large object is flat stone. Top left hand corner on grass is the spoon

which collects the ash. Left bottom corner, pile of ash, then sugar, the

fruit cut in hal f. The ash, sugar and contents of fruit are mixed together

resulting in the mixture seen in the centre of the stone, which is then

placed inside the scraped out shell of the fruit.

After birth, a length of dry grass taken from the roof of the hut called

“Ndunda”, is split in half, its edge is razor sharp, and with this the

umbilical cord is severed leaving a length of 7 to 10cm of cord on baby.

Approximately and hour later, this length is reduced to approximately

5cm by again severing with the grass as seen, maintaining that the

second cut release all unnecessary blood from the cord.

Two or three hours later, the mixture explained above, is applied

ensuring, they say, the rotting of the remainder of cord within three days

without any ill effects.

Between the third and fourteen day, begins the strange ceremony the

passing of the child through the smoke, accomplished by picking leaves

from the trees. The leaves have an exceptional pungent aroma. A small

fire is made in the centre of the hut, upon in which leaves are placed,

creating a thin pall of smoke, most irritating to mouth, nostrils and eyes.

A woman holds the baby head downward into the smoke, which gives it

such a shock it can hardly cry. The baby is turned around several times

in the smoke, and later it is handed back to its seated mother who swiftly

passes the child under one of her legs, then under the other. All this,

plus smoke shock, assures beyond doubt, they say, that when the child

grows up it will never be subject to fright, nor be timid, shy or easily

ridicuklated by minor or adults, as it will stand its ground and becomes a

warrior. After all the process the child is washed after its ordeal.

Then the baby is painted with white substance from the river bank or

painted with ash if the child is born far from the river. Ingredient is

prepared on a flat stone into which small quantity of ground wood and

leaves is mixed. This wood and leaves has a strong pleasant smell,

which they maintain adheres to the baby holding off all evil spirits from

attacking the child and then the Baby feeding process follows suit after

its ordeal.

After birth the new mother is given extensive support from her own

family for approximately up to 3 months and she is expected to take lots

of rest. The mothers of the new baby also go through traditional medical

attention, the elderly women in the village are the ones intrusted to treat

the women who gave birth to the new baby. Young women and girls

neither young men are allowed to see the baby for 3 months as it is

believed that it’s a taboo, which may cause the baby to get sick. Most

mothers in the village find this period very difficult because these

traditional supports are usually absent.

Both mother and baby are expected to remain alone in the home.

Regardless of when the naming ceremony takes place, what is

underscored is that existence is first and foremost a social experience.

Although one may be born in the physical realm, one's existence starts

only when one has been acknowledged as a member of a community.

Through the naming ceremony, a new human comes into being as it

becomes integrated into a community. Only at that point is it considered

to exist.

A goat is then slaughtered as a token of appreciation for the ancestors

who are responsible for human fertility. At three months of age children

are usually brought to the community in the village to undergo a

celebration.

FEEDING Babies are usually breastfed in Kavango for up to 3 years old. They will

grow up to have a staple diet that includes sikundu (traditional drink),

masini(Milk) either the baby’s mothers milk or goats milk and cattle,

plantains, maize, groundnuts, fish and wheat.

NAMING Naming for babies is extremely important for the Kavango people and in

one ethnic group (Nyemba) a baby will not be considered to be truly a

person until they are named. Many Kavango people are ordered to

abandon Christian or foreign names and change to Kavango names.

Many Kavango have reverted back to using Christian names while many

retain the use of Kavango names. The present structure of naming

involves having a first name – often Christian – followed by two

traditional names. Mostly in our Kavango culture the names given to the

new born baby will often be chosen to reflect an event surrounding the

birth or to evoke a family story.

The naming ceremony takes place on the seventh day or more days

after a child is born. In the morning, close relatives and elders assemble

to pray for the new born and its parents: they pray that they will be

blessed with prosperity, good health, and a long life. The elders usually

after having engaged in divination offer a name to the baby's father.

Divination helps determine which ancestor may be coming back through

the child. Later on, in the evening, others in the community join to

officially welcome the new born. Specific ritual food and drinks will be

used, such as kola nuts, honey, sugar, and alligator pepper for prayers;

and gin and traditional wine for prayers and libation. A clay busket full of

water will be broken and shown to the women as a symbolic

representation of the mystery of life.. All those in attendance will give a

name to the child and partake in a meal. In Kavango, names are always

meaningful and are believed to be an essential part of one's spiritual and

social identity. Names are therefore sacred. In some communities, boys

may be circumcised as part of the rituals associated with the naming

ceremony. Such is the case among the Nyemba people, who circumcise

males on the seventh day after their birth, while females have their ears

pierced on that day.

A baby’s name will usually be chosen by a parental uncle (male) or by

the mother or father’s sister (female). The uncle or the father’s sister and

mother can choose which of these names they will ordinarily use so it is

important to the Kavango people as this keeps their identity and culture

alive.

CIRCUMCISIONVarious forms of surgical and ritual operations known as circumcision are performed on human sex organs throughout the Africa, it is an old practice.

Particularly in our Kavango culture, the age at which circumcision is carried out varies considerably among ethnic groups and families and is dependent on religious affiliations and, in some cases, on personal preference. It can be performed at any time of human development, as early as at birth or as late as at adult age.

All male babies are circumcised, usually at 0-15 years of age. The requests for circumcisions at this age can cause much upset from mothers in most cases. In many cases many parents seek to have circumcisions done by traditional doctors. Male children go to an iniation camp away from their villages for three to six months or one year. When the day of the circumsition comes the people burn everything that was involved in the practice including the hut. They circumsize the young man with a blunt knife and the "boy" is then forced to bury his foreskin before he is beaten on the way to the river. The river will wash away his childhood. When he gets back from the river he gets red ochre put on him that won't be removed for three months. Once the red ochre is removed then the individual is finally considered a man and is able to be married.

Culminating in a festival and circumcision, this rite of passage into adulthood provides an opportunity for boys to learn to hunt, make handicrafts, and perfect their singing and dancing. The mask village-maskmaker works all year to create. After this induction into childhood, the boys travel back to their communities as men. No women are allowed to visit the secret place were the boys circumcision is taking placing neither men nor boys who was never circumcised is allowed to visit the area. If one is court you are fined by the elders for breaking the rules.

UPBRINGINGCommunity solidarity is important throughout Kavango and instilling respect for elders is practiced within all ethnic groups as the famous African proverb states that “It takes the whole village to raise a child”. Children will learn not to make direct eye contact with elders or to initiate handshakes. Instead they will learn to bow or kneel down to greet elders and they will often prostrate themselves. Children will usually be seen as the responsibility of the whole community and all adults in the community are expected to discipline children. Discipline is usually strict and corporal punishment in the form of slapping is the norm, as is the use of a raised voice. However, communication through eye contact is also used frequently as disciplinary tool. Non-verbal communication can also convey many other messages throughout Kavango people and what seem like simple gestures can easily be mis-understood between the communities.

If a Kavango child need to go into care it is important that they be placed with a person that the family trusts. It is more likely that they will distrust a member of any community, unless they have been vetted through their religious, as they have no assurance that the person is not an enchantress.

Children in our Kavango culture are taught the necessary skills for adulthood including among other things; problem solving, rules and taboos of the society, social responsibility, what is considered appropriate behavior for women and men and can receive further clarification of his or her purpose or life mission. Oftentimes, successful completion of the rite of adulthood is publically celebrated with a "coming out ceremony" or reintroduction to society.

BECOMING A MENBoys have to go through a rigorous process to be considered a man in our tribe. In order to want to marry, the boy has to go through an initiation of the training, also called the cirumsition lodge. The boy is sent out to live in a hut far away from any females and from the rest of the tribe and is forced to go through endurance practices and training on how to be a man.

While the young man is in this training he has to wear a reed skirt and cover himself in white sandstone, they also have to wear a reed cone head dress and a mask. The ceremony can last many days anywhere from one to two weeks. The boy has to act and dances like a bull as part of the ceremony. The young men learns how to catch a catfish with his bare hands, learns how to hunt, learns the true meaning of the appearance of a snake in the granary, and flees from an army of bees and mistakes a hungry albino cobra snake for a pink inner tube. And he survives, with trepidation and pride, his circumcision ceremony that brings together the entire village.

During the process life is made more difficult by fights with other herd boys. The bigger boys would try to encourage fights among the smaller ones. The bigger boys would stand aside enjoying the fight and urging it on. They would yell, “Hit hard” the devils were all too ready to supply a stick if one broke.

The season comes and goes, when you grow up you stop grazing lamb and goat kids and start tend sheep and goats, which meant that you now trusted by parents. Especially on dry season you are expected to tend calves and old cows as they grazed along the dangerous steep slopes of various gorges because the animals had eaten up the grass on the grass on the level ground during the prolonged harsh season.

Whenever you go to a place where an animal had been slaughtered, you will bring the best cuts of well roasted or fried meat. That was demonstration of love by a father to his son.

As you grow up, you are told to be strong among other young boys and you are told to see yourself as fighter that represent you in a form of any

wild strong animal. In our culture boys are encouraged to see themselves as warriors. Some of the animals like the lion is symbolised as bravery and pride. Lions have a special presence, if you kill a lion; you are respected by everyone in the community or village. Other warriors even make up songs about how brave you are, so it is every warrior dream to kill a lion at one point or another. Growing up, I had a lot of interaction with wild animals such as Lions, Elephants, rhinos, buffalos, hyenas and cheetahs.

Children do much of the herding. Boys and girls as young as five or six take the little animal’s calves, sheep and goats to grazing areas near their homes, learning early to become responsible, and productive members of society.

The warriors have the responsibility for the mature animals. Often you have to take the community herds long distances to find adequate grass and water. Sometimes during dry season or in periods of severe drought they must establish cattle camps far from the villages and remain away from home for weeks at a time. On these occasions older boys and girls will also be sent to the camps to help with the chores and give the warriors a break in the routine.

MARRIAGE RITESMarriage is widely acknowledged throughout the Kavango culture as one of the most critical moments in a person's life. This is the case because marriage is intimately linked with procreation. In fact, the main, if not only, purpose of marriage is procreation. In most Kavango societies, marriage is not deemed complete until a child has been born. Likewise, a man is not a full man or a woman a full woman until they have given birth to a child.

Marriage creates the context within which children are conceived and born, hence its critical significance. Getting married and having children is a social, moral, and ultimately spiritual obligation and privilege. Likewise, one's refusal or failure to get married and have children is largely incomprehensible and certainly quite reprehensible as far as the Kavango community is concerned.

Marriage, from the standpoint of Kavango religion, is never simply an affair between a man and a woman, but an event that involves at least two families. Kavango families are normally quite large because they include several sub-units. The whole community has a stake in the marriage and will be involved.

Because marriage is a most serious affair, young men and women are thoroughly prepared for married life. Young men and women are taught about the responsibilities of married life and educated about sex and procreation. Many rites and rituals are performed as part of the wedding ceremony. Of particular significance are rituals meant to purify or bless the couple. Among the Kavango people, for instance, the oldest woman in attendance will spray gin (which is closely associated with the ancestors) on the couple and other relatives to bless the new union. Among the Nyemba people of Kavango, a woman about to get married is given a clay pot by her father's sister. Because the main purpose of marriage is procreation, the clay pot stands for the womb that is expected to be filled and blessed with many pregnancies. A similar ritual can be observed among the people of Kavango, when the paternal aunt hands a clay pot full of water to the bride to bless her with a fertile marriage. Water is intimately associated with fertility in the culture.

Among the tribes, on the day of her wedding, a woman's body is smeared with milk and herbs to cleanse her from her previous life and make her pure. Among the Nyemba, the bride walks backward into her husband's house. An old woman who is instructed in matters related to sex and marriage accompanies her and presents her with beads, which symbolize children, to bless her with fertile marriage.

SOCIETYThe society revolves around age and gender. Men and women behave according to the long established principles based on age. Males, for example, belong to an age-set determined by the date of their circumcision, which marks their initiation into manhood. Men of an age-set may have been born a dozen or more years apart, but in African culture society they are considered the same age and like fraternity brothers, they will be friends for life. The most recently circumcised males form group, essentially a brotherhood of warriors who are responsible for protecting their community and its livestock. Warriors live separately from the other villagers, are not allowed to marry or eat any food seen or offered by a woman, and spend their free time making themselves glamorous by wearing long braids powdered with red ochre and by practicing their singing and dancing skills.

Girls, who are related to and who cook for the initiate, women are generally not involved in the traditional process. Women’s role could be described as that of cheer leaders. They participate significantly in the ceremonies to welcome the new men back home. Discussions around the meaningful involvement of women in the initiation process have been met with resistance from custodians of culture.

ELDER ROLESPeople participation is the highest evolved form of governance, but it has one stringent condition: That the people be full educated and informed, and mature to be productive participants. In traditional African context some sort of rites of Passage existed to assess people's viability to contribute to different areas of the society.

Elders are responsible for continually contemplating the good and the right. Because of their Eldership status, they are not or should not be driven by personal interests or individual rewards. They cannot be tempted or influenced by appeals to favoritism or personal desires. The status of Eldership places them above the needs of manipulating, of “getting over” or “what's in it for me personally?” Although male and Female Elders have distinct responsibilities in traditional life, in general, as Elders, they share in the responsibility of correcting imbalances, maintaining peace, and revitalizing community life. Their singular goal is to guide and guarantee the cooperative good and collective advancement. The judgments and decisions of the Elders are always consistent with their community's cultural integrity and directed toward Truth and Justice.

Elders were and are the guardians of the culture, traditions, and history of the people. Integrity, generosity, wisdom, articulateness, subtlety, patience, tactfulness, gratefulness, and being listened to and respected by others are all qualities of an Elder. Understandably, with Eldership, one's status and value in the community rises. Although the primary work of the Elder is to advice, guide, and oversee the living in community, their fundamental value and purpose lies in teaching the young what it means to be human. The Elder knows the traditions, history, values, beliefs and cultural laws that are inviolate. Accordingly, the experience and wisdom of the Elder is readily sought and freely shared with others. Elders are charged with the task of understanding both the material and spiritual requisites of life. In fact, to have Elders live with you, and for you to have available their daily guidance, is considered a great blessing and advantage. It is thought to be an honor to even be in the presence of an Elder. They serve as a link between the

past and the present while guaranteeing that our way of life is extended into the future.

As Elders, both men and women devote themselves to the higher responsibility of utilizing the collective to guide and direct the permanent ascension of the community and to channel its vital life force (spirit). The utilization and understanding of the natural spiritual power of the community is, in fact, perceived as the “wisdom of Eldership”. This is an all-consuming task. To do this, Elders are generally not involved in the survival struggles of life. They devote themselves to the full-time pursuit of wisdom the understanding and application of high values and traditions of the community and the spiritual meaning of being human. In effect, the Elders “work” was and is to synthesize wisdom from long life experiences, to connect the visible (material) and invisible (spiritual) realms, and to formulate all into a legacy of the good life for future generations.

Elders, like young people, are considered to be a full part of African communities. Although they may be physically weak, they are considered in Bậntu and Akan societies, for example, to be a powerful social force. They are spiritually strong and wise enough to maintain the cohesion of the community, but they are also able to build the moral foundation of the community's youth and the generations to come.

THE LIVINGOur livelihood relies upon livestock, mainly cattle, but also goats, sheep, donkeys. Consist of few families; a thorny fence called “Hambo” a homemade of acacia branches that protects the livestock at night. In our homestead, each family has its own gate into the compound and each married woman has her own house. A man can have more than one wife which means polygamy I todays world. Our houses are made of thatch and mud or clay soil plastered over a wooden frame. Husbands sleep in the houses of their wife.

Mainly in Kavango region we have fertile land and our main source of food comes from the Kavango river, and the livestock. Fish and milk is the staple of the diet. Milk it is drunk fresh or after it has fermented a few days, becoming a form of yogurt or cottage cheese.

Milk is stored in a calabash “Hupa”, a type of gourd that is cleaned with the burning stick, which gives the milk a unique taste.

Meat is not eaten very often as our people prefer different taste, although they have many great cows, goats and sheep, they are too valuable to be slaughtered for food. Our domestic animals are killed only for special occasions and certain ceremonies.

Otherwise they are traded for grain, mahangu, tea, cloth and other necessities, sold or kept for breeding purposes. Animal blood, on the other hand is important part of the diet. Blood can be drunk plain, mixed with milk, or cooked into porridge. Societies are threatened by wildlife preserves which occupy some of the grazing lands.

The land here is unconscious of the beauty of the landscape but aware of the abundance of wildlife

They say they “live entirely on fish, milk, butter, honey and meat of black cattle having great ideal for agriculture, believing that the nourishment afforded by cereals enfeebles and is only suitable to the despised tribes of the mountains. When the cattle fail them, they make raids on the tribes which know to be in possession of herds. They say heaven gave them all that exists in the way of cattle and that no other nation ought to possess any, they are dreaded as warriors, laying all waste with fire

sword, so that the weaker do not venture to resist them in the open fields, leave them possession of their herds and seek only to save themselves by the quickest possible fight”.