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News - Date: 17 September 2004
THOHOYANDOU – In a giant move to celebrate the African Renaissance and the preservation of our cultural heritage, the Vhembe District Municipality and the University of Venda for Science and Technology (Univen) jointly celebrated Heritage Month at the Univen Auditorium last week Wednesday.
The theme of the celebration was ‘Celebrating our living heritage’. The Vendas, Tsongas and the Pedis displayed their indigenous food and clothing while the whole occasion was also characterized by impressive traditional dances of the three groups. Indigenous food on display included mukusule (dried vegetable), thophi (pumpkin porridge), dimake (peanuts), mathuthu (indigenous popcorn), ngowa (wild mushroom) and khobvu (pumpkin juice). The clothing on display included minwenda, xibelani, tinjovo and dithetho.
The executive mayor of Vhembe District Municipality, Mr Sam Moeti, said it is important to preserve African culture and traditional values in order to build a strong and disciplined nation. Moeti said Africans must not undermine themselves because African practices are morally acceptable and educational.
“Being educated does not mean that we must disregard our culture. We must learn to go out and preach our cultural gospel with happiness and pride. Our indigenous food is very healthy because it is less processed. The fact that the food is easily accessible and cheap makes one boast of an African habitat that is rich in useful vegetation and adequate food supply. Most of the health problems that we face today are because of the food that we eat. It is important to teach our kids to prepare indigenous food to equip them with the knowledge they will use when we depart from this world,” said Moeti.
The Deputy Director General of Heritage, Archives and Libraries from the national government, Mr Themba Wakashe, commended the Vhembe District Municipality and Univen for making a joint effort to preserve culture and to promote African traditional norms. He said culture is one of the main human tools that should not be left behind during the process of transformation.
“We must be proud of who we are instead of being copycats of other peoples’ cultures. We must learn to love and appreciate our history, tradition and morality because those are the basis from which a strong nation develops. Our indigenous languages should also be preserved for the benefit of the young generation and the community at large,” said Wakashe.
Dignitaries also had a chance to taste delicious indigenous food on display shortly after the function.
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