If there’s one month that most South Africans look forward to all year is December! Simply because we go on holidays, spend more time with family and do things!
Just for laughs: we’ve compiled some of the things that we believe Tsonga people do during the Christmas Season. Check these out!
- We pack and go home! – What would festive season be without packing a few of our belongings and goodies then head back to the village via the N1 North? We only reside outside of Limpopo because of our careers, if we had it our way; we would have our own Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban in Limpopo. We visit our families either by bus, lifts or our cars to enjoy our Christmas with the rest of the Tsonga nation. If you don’t go home – they say ‘u dyiwile,’ loosely translated to ‘you have been eaten,’ meaning you have been robbed off your Tsonga identity.
- We Celebrate Tikhomba – In Xitsonga, a young woman is referred to as ‘khomba’ only after having gone through a girl’s initiation school where she is groomed by older women from being a girl to a ‘woman’. The initiation school takes place for as long as a week or two and upon her return – the young woman is celebrated by family, friends or even the whole village that she is now a woman! Her rewards for going through the process are usually lots of gifts.
- Xiseve-seve – This may be similar to a Stokvel. When Tsonga women are friends, they refer to each other as ‘maseve’ and with xiseve-seve; it is way of recognising their friendship with gifts and sometimes money. The recognition moves from one friend to the next each year and in the end, everyone gets to be merry! Also, this platform also allows women to showcase their Xitsonga fashion sense.
- Guys are called Gayisa! – Ever heard of that saying, Xichangana i Xilungu? (Shangaan is English) The word ‘gayisa’ is derived from ‘guys,’ at least that it our big guess. A gayisa refers to man who resides in the city during the year and heads back to the village during festive. Due to this status; he may be expected to spoil his family, neighbours, friends and a few strangers to a few goodies because they are believed to have money.
- Soccer Tournaments – City people meet the village! Soccer matches are held to showcase local talent and in most cases – the ‘permanent’ residents of the village play against the people from the city. It doesn’t matter who wins because everyone gets to celebrate just for being home with everyone.
These may be funny, but they are true. Share with us some of the things you also do in your village, hometown or country during festive season, tag @shangazine and add #TsongaChristmas.