Family is bigger than the nucleus

15 July 2010

"Nna, le Tata, le Solo re Bataung. Mama wena o Mofokeng," Lulu said matter-of-factly. She had being learning about her family totem and was simply pointing out that her, her father and brother were of the Lion totem (Bataung) while I was of the Hare totem (Bafokeng). My 2, 5 year old of course seems to see this as validation that he is in fact a lion! (He loves roaring around the house and threatening to bite us).

The link of family totems to the meaning of the animal and its characteristics is significant. Clearly the king of the wild – the Lion as strong, mighty characteristics while the Hare – my totem – is associated with being clever, daring and skillful so as to out maneuver it bigger opponents. And the list goes on – there are the Batloung (the Elephants), Bakwena (the Crocodiles), Batlaping (the Fish), etc. etc. Furthermore, a family’s seboko said in full gives a history of who your people are and what their attributes were/are – perfect material for praise singing!

The importance of a totem in African culture is a great one as it not only gives you as an individual a sense of belonging to your family, but it also creates a bond to a bigger community of others with the same totem. For example, if you meet someone and discover you share the same totem, there’s an immediate sense of ‘we belong’ or ‘we are of one’. Almost the way you might have that same sense if you were overseas and met someone from your hometown.

It is this sense of a bigger community or family that is unique to our culture and something I really hope will never be lost.

I need to teach my children their father’s seboko, but in the meanwhile here is mine:

Ke Mofokeng wa ha Tshele
Tshele wa lekotwana
Motho wa matsatsi ntabele
Ke nowana e talana
O se etsabe ho loma
E tla loma kamoso ha e se hodile

Tell us your thoughts by leaving a comment below: what is your family totem? Do you know your seboko in full? The family totem is culturally strong in Southern Africa, but how far reaching is this?