BRIEF SUMMARY OF MY BLOG ENTRY

This blog entry is going to summarize all my blog entries that I have published so far. Since from the beginning I have been writing about Limpopo Province, but my focus was about the illustration about the province itself, town's, the culture, rituals, traditional dances, kingship of Vhavenda people, the history of Thohoyandou and Vhavenda. My aim was to make known of my home town to those who do not even know that there is a place called Venda in Limpopo province.

My first blog entry focused more on introducing the province itself and introduced the capital of Limpopo which is Polokwane. In this blog the map which shows Limpopo as a whole was given and by the results of this map one can now see and know more about the towns, village, roads and our nature reserves. The map also shows that this province is located on the top of South Africa and next to our neighbour's countries which are Botswana, Zimbabwe and Mozambique. This is the map that I am referring to:

 

Furthermore the blog also covers the issue of  the waterfalls that are situated in  our villages such as Mphephu resort found at Dzanani and Phiphidi Waterfall in Phiphidi village. This Waterfalls serves as  our heritage sites, where people come and enjoy themselves in Easter and holidays throughout the year. The other point that was mentioned is about the stadiums that are situated in Limpopo, but only two were introduced which are Peter Mokaba and Thohoyandou stadium. The reason for introducing only these two stadiums out of many was because they are the biggest and most famous, I will back this up because some of the 2010 FIFA world cup games were played here.

 The second blog focused more on the history of Vhavenda and Thohoyandou. This blog shows that the history of Venda started at Mapungubwe where today is known as Mapungubwe Heritage Site. People flew from different parts of the world and come to celebrate the arts festival every year. Part of this blog shows the pattern of leadership from the late 9th century. It also gives an insight of the language that is used by Vhavenda people which is Tshivenda. Vhavenda people have their special drum which was used in times of war, and this drum is called Ngomalungundu. When one talk about Ngomalungundu is talking about this drum:

The other issue that was mentioned is about the new mall that was opened in 2016 at Thohoyandou under Thulamela municipality. The mall is called Thavhani mall which refers to the mountain. This is the biggest mall all over Venda and it has created many jobs for Vhavenda people. The biggest dam in Venda and all around Limpopo was also mentioned and the picture was also given in order to give a better understanding for those who do not know Venda.

The third blog focuses more on the rituals and traditional dances that are practiced in Limpopo but more specifically in Venda. First of all the ritual that man practice was the first one to be introduced, which is the circumcision of man in the bush. In Venda language this is referred as Murundu or Mula and only man can partake in this ritual. Then it also shows those rituals that are only meant for  women’s only which are Musevhetho, Khomba and Domba. These three rituals they are performed according to the age. Here are some of the pictures to illustrate and give a better understanding of these rituals. The first picture shows Murundu and the other one shows young girls practicing Khomba.

            

Then traditional dances that are performed by men and women’s were also given. The first traditional dance was Tshikona which is practiced by men only and there are others  three dances that are practiced by women’s. Women practice Tshigombela, Tshifasi and Malende. All these types of dances they are practiced only if there is an event of functions around the province. This is one the picture that illustrate of the traditional dance which is Tshikona.

The fourth one puts its focus on the kingship of Vhavenda. The main focus of the blog is to describe the history of Vhavenda people starting from king Dimbanyika. This blog serves as a reminder of where the Venda people come from when looking at the royal house that rule the entire Venda. One can see that the Boers tried to destroy the history of Venda so that they can gain control of the province, but they did not succeed in their mission because the trend of Mphephu Ramabulana continued to rule Venda. So this blog illustrated the pattern of kingship from 1600 up until today where we found Toni Mphephu Ramabulana as the one ruling the entire Venda. This is the picture of our Venda king Vho Toni Mphephu Ramabulana.

 

Then the last one deals with the lifestyle and culture in Venda. Here we see that life begins in rural areas were different lifestyle is practiced. It also shows that people in Venda they are rich when it comes to farming, by farming I am referring to different types farming such crop and animal farming. To support the above statement I will talk about the farms around Levubu area where you can find all sorts of crops starting from vegetables and fruits. In Venda we also have the tea plantations which are Phiphidi and Tshivhase tea plantation. All these tea plantations produce a tea by the of Midi tea. The biggest fruit market is found at Tshakhuma where people buy fruits when they are travelling to other parts of the world. Below are the pictures showing the tea plantation and the Tshakhuma fruit market.

             

To conclude this brief summary I will say that this blog has helped me to think about where I come from and not to forget my roots. I hope that anyone who will be able to get hold of my blogs will also be inspired and will get a chance to learn and know much about the Vhavenda people and the Limpopo province. I am proud to be the writer of this blog because I know that my ideas will inspire many and educate them. I will also encourage my readers to try and learn more about our culture and not just judge.