Culture: The origin of the Venda People

We found a book about African folklore in the Barn, one day that we were crazy looking for the charger for the spotlight that we use in leopard trapping. Here is the fragment in which the origin of Venda people, according to their tradition is explained. By the way, the Vendas are the dominant group around here (apart from the immigrants from Zimbabwe), that is why:

<<Kale, kale –long, long ago- before there were Venda people in the world, there was a large snake called Tharu (Python) living on the mountain slopes pf the present land of the Vedas. That which came about happened during a year of prolonged drought, It was then that Tharu divided humself into two parts- Thoho, the Head, and Tshamutshila, the Tail. When Tharu had so divided himself, each part became a snake. They lived on, until one day Thoho said to Tshamutshila: “The drough has brought great famine everywhere. I fear that we shall die of hunger unless we do something to avoid starvation. Therefore, let us separate. You go westward in search of food, and I shall search in the east.”

Then Tshamutshila went westward searching, into the land that is now the country of the Vendas. When he arrived in that place he became a human being. He gathered herds of cattle, he married many wives (Let me just say that religions and traditions seem to be in agreement that women have a different origin than men…¬¬’ anda que…) bore Tshamutshila numerous children. These numerous children married and begot more children, and in time all these people became a tribe. Tshamutshila became their chief, and he was called by the name Ramabulana. He built Musanda, meaning Great Place, and from there he ruled.

The land of the Venda people was fertile and full of rivers and springs, and rain was plentiful. The people grew maize, millet, squash, pumpkins, peanuts, sweet potatoes, cassava, beans, sweet cane and many other kinds of crops. They had cattle, sheep, goats, fowls, dogs and cats. Food was plentiful and the people were prosperous. Tshamutshila, or Ramabulana as he was known, became a chief whose name was in far-off lands.

Now, Thoho went east to a place in what is now Mozambique, and there he founded the Ronga people. In time he also turned human, and he came to be known by the name Nyamusoro. But the lands he rued were lands of drought and famine. The soil was not fertile, there were not many rivers and little rain fell. In order to procure food for himself, Nyamusoro became a wandering singer and entertainer. He travelled from one village to another, from one country to another and from one Great Place (dweling of a chief) to another. He sang and danced in return for food to eat and beer to drink. And he arrived one day at the Great Place of Ramabulana, he who founded rhe Venda nation. He danced and sang at the outer gate of the Great Place, and the people gathered until there was a great crowd. His dancing stirred up a cloud of dust that rose into the sky and hung there over the town.

Many people went to Ramabulana to urge him to come and see the dancing, but he refused. Knowing thet he and Nyamusoro were parts of Tharu, The Python, he feared that the two parts would again be joined. So he would not listen to those who urged him to come to the town gate. But Ramabulana’s wives implored him even more strongly than others. They sang:

“Go out of your house, O Vhamusanda,

For Nyamusoro’s singing and dancingm O Vhamusanda.

It is a spectacle too great to be missed by any living person,

A sight never before seem or heard,

Come out and go to the gate, O Vhamusanda!”

Importuned this way, at last Ramabulana could not resist. He agreed to go to the gate to hear Nyamusoro sing and see him dance, He arose. He went to the gate where the great crowd was watching, and where the dust was still rising from the groud into the air. He went forward, till he and Nyamusoro saw each other. And instantly they came together, the two parts of Tharu, and they joined and became Tharu the Phyton again. And even as the Venda people watched, Tharu coiled and uncoiled and then made his way out of the town into the forest.

Thus Great Place of Ramabulana was a Great Place without a chief. Ramabulana`s sons grew up, they married and had children; but they quarrelled among themselves and could not agree on anything. So they parted, each of the sons taking his family and his followers. Each chose a different direction. Werever one of the, settled with his people he became a chief. Thus Venda people spread across the country, all of the progeny of Ramabulana, who began as a part of Tharu, and who returned to Tharu.

(From “A Treasury of African Folklore- Harold Courlander”)