Our tribes and totems
When the gods genetically re-engineered man, they allocated man to work-groups which we call tribes/nations today. Man was insulated from the political alignments of the gods. Man was just a worker who had to be protected from being swamped by Homo Naledi.Such was the community that lived on and around Mapungubwe hill. Some guards (Balindi/Balete) were placed at the top of the hill, while others were deployed at the bottom. The principal responsibility of the guards on the hill-top was to drop (ku liga) rocks on any enemy who might have breached the lower defences. Consequently the hill-top guards became known as "the droppers" (Baka Chiliga) [Boo Seleka in Setswana]
Totems were assigned by the gods mostly to differentiate one work-group from another, but also to give humanity the upper hand in the survival stakes vis-a-vis Homo Naledi. The totems were mostly in the form of some animal that the assigned group was not allowed to eat or even touch.
In the human survival stakes two work-groups were assigned Homo Naledi as their totem. This was to ensure that the said work-groups would keep their distance from Homo Naledi. Homo Naledi was considered an ape, i.e. a baboon or a monkey and the gods wanted to expedite his extinction. The two groups assigned Homo Naledi as their totem were the gatherers of tree bark in the bush (Bakulutshi/Bakhurutshe) who constantly came into contact with Homo Naledi, and the healers/sorcerers to whom poor, sickly Homo Naledi might turn for medical attention and/or relief. The tree bark gatherers (Bakulutshi) were assigned the baboon (gudo/tshwene) as totem, while the healers/sorcerers (Be-hakata/Bakgatla) were assigned the monkey (shoko/kgabo). Thus Homo Sapiens was steered away from any contact with Homo Naledi.
To ensure that those who hoisted meat to the hill-top did not, due to laziness, hoist only the light animals to the top while leaving the big and heavy animals to be consumed by the community at the bottom of the hill, the gods assigned light animal totems to the hill-top community while the foot hill community were assigned heavy animal totems. This is how the hill-top guards, the droppers, were assigned the duiker (phengwe/phuti), a light animal as a totem, while the foot hill guards were assigned the buffaloe. Today the foot hill guards are simply known as Balindi/Balete, while the hill-top guards are known as Balindi baka Chiliga/Balete boo Seleka.
Following god Marduk's marriage to an earthling, and the arrival of the Igigi from Mars, mankind was taught the rearing of animals, and provision of a milk diet to the gods. A new work-group made up of cattle herders (Ba-ku-ina/Bakwena) cattle restrainers (Bakaya/Bakaa), and cattle milkers (Bangwa-Ato and Bangwa-Khwizi) had to be created. The new work-group was collectively called cattle raisers (Bathuwa/Barua/Barwa). Thiose who looked after cattle in the bush (Bakwena) and those who restrained the animals for milking (Bakaya) were drawn from ground-level work-groups while those who milked the animals were drawn from groups at the hill-top. The Bakwena and the Bakaya were drawn from the Bakhurutshe and the Balilima/Barolong (field workers) respectively. The Bangwa-Ato (Bangwato) were drawn from the rock droppers (Balindi baka Chiliga). I suspect that the Bangwa-Khwizi (Bangwaketsi) were solely responsible for hoisting milk to the hill's top where the Bangwa-Ato would then take over to feed the gods. This would suggest that the Bangwa-Khwizi work-group was probably drawn from the Batugwa (Batlokwa).
The predominant language used in this milk economy was the language of the teachers - the Igigi. That language spread from Sudan, where it was known as Chhisuthu/Sotho to Southern Africa where it is additionally, known as Setswana today. Its speakers, the Bathuwa/Barua/Barwa are not an original work-group. hey are a composite group from a few work-groups hence some of those work-groups have retained their original totems, such as Bangwato retaining the duiker rather that adopting the crocodile of the Bakwena, as their totem.
In my post on Palapye, I debunked the myth that the people of Palapye and Mahalapye are Bangwato. I showed that they are instead, Bahumbe and that their totem is the African hoopoe bird (Chibelu). A Humbe person is called "mpalabgwe" in Kalanga, meaning a rock hewer. It may have escaped some readers' notice that the word "mpalabgwe" is exactly the same word as 'mogalakwe" or "mohala-bgwe", which is the same name as the uncorrupted version of Mahalapye, namely "Mhalatswe".
I have not been to the little village of Mhalapitsa (pot hewers) in the Tswapong area, but I am confident that the inhabitants of that little village are also Bahumbe. If indeed they are, it will prove to those who have been on top of Mapungubwe hill that the "toilets" hewn out of rock on the hill-top also served as pots. That should settle the argument about the gods eating our excretion once and for all!
Totems were assigned by the gods mostly to differentiate one work-group from another, but also to give humanity the upper hand in the survival stakes vis-a-vis Homo Naledi. The totems were mostly in the form of some animal that the assigned group was not allowed to eat or even touch.
In the human survival stakes two work-groups were assigned Homo Naledi as their totem. This was to ensure that the said work-groups would keep their distance from Homo Naledi. Homo Naledi was considered an ape, i.e. a baboon or a monkey and the gods wanted to expedite his extinction. The two groups assigned Homo Naledi as their totem were the gatherers of tree bark in the bush (Bakulutshi/Bakhurutshe) who constantly came into contact with Homo Naledi, and the healers/sorcerers to whom poor, sickly Homo Naledi might turn for medical attention and/or relief. The tree bark gatherers (Bakulutshi) were assigned the baboon (gudo/tshwene) as totem, while the healers/sorcerers (Be-hakata/Bakgatla) were assigned the monkey (shoko/kgabo). Thus Homo Sapiens was steered away from any contact with Homo Naledi.
To ensure that those who hoisted meat to the hill-top did not, due to laziness, hoist only the light animals to the top while leaving the big and heavy animals to be consumed by the community at the bottom of the hill, the gods assigned light animal totems to the hill-top community while the foot hill community were assigned heavy animal totems. This is how the hill-top guards, the droppers, were assigned the duiker (phengwe/phuti), a light animal as a totem, while the foot hill guards were assigned the buffaloe. Today the foot hill guards are simply known as Balindi/Balete, while the hill-top guards are known as Balindi baka Chiliga/Balete boo Seleka.
Following god Marduk's marriage to an earthling, and the arrival of the Igigi from Mars, mankind was taught the rearing of animals, and provision of a milk diet to the gods. A new work-group made up of cattle herders (Ba-ku-ina/Bakwena) cattle restrainers (Bakaya/Bakaa), and cattle milkers (Bangwa-Ato and Bangwa-Khwizi) had to be created. The new work-group was collectively called cattle raisers (Bathuwa/Barua/Barwa). Thiose who looked after cattle in the bush (Bakwena) and those who restrained the animals for milking (Bakaya) were drawn from ground-level work-groups while those who milked the animals were drawn from groups at the hill-top. The Bakwena and the Bakaya were drawn from the Bakhurutshe and the Balilima/Barolong (field workers) respectively. The Bangwa-Ato (Bangwato) were drawn from the rock droppers (Balindi baka Chiliga). I suspect that the Bangwa-Khwizi (Bangwaketsi) were solely responsible for hoisting milk to the hill's top where the Bangwa-Ato would then take over to feed the gods. This would suggest that the Bangwa-Khwizi work-group was probably drawn from the Batugwa (Batlokwa).
The predominant language used in this milk economy was the language of the teachers - the Igigi. That language spread from Sudan, where it was known as Chhisuthu/Sotho to Southern Africa where it is additionally, known as Setswana today. Its speakers, the Bathuwa/Barua/Barwa are not an original work-group. hey are a composite group from a few work-groups hence some of those work-groups have retained their original totems, such as Bangwato retaining the duiker rather that adopting the crocodile of the Bakwena, as their totem.
In my post on Palapye, I debunked the myth that the people of Palapye and Mahalapye are Bangwato. I showed that they are instead, Bahumbe and that their totem is the African hoopoe bird (Chibelu). A Humbe person is called "mpalabgwe" in Kalanga, meaning a rock hewer. It may have escaped some readers' notice that the word "mpalabgwe" is exactly the same word as 'mogalakwe" or "mohala-bgwe", which is the same name as the uncorrupted version of Mahalapye, namely "Mhalatswe".
I have not been to the little village of Mhalapitsa (pot hewers) in the Tswapong area, but I am confident that the inhabitants of that little village are also Bahumbe. If indeed they are, it will prove to those who have been on top of Mapungubwe hill that the "toilets" hewn out of rock on the hill-top also served as pots. That should settle the argument about the gods eating our excretion once and for all!
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