. Annals of the South African Museum = Annale van die Suid-Afrikaanse Museum. Natural history. 96 ANNALS OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN MUSEUM. Fig. 42. Mohwera dancing in courtyard. Photo: E. J. Krige, 1938. indigenous fibres, there is an awareness among conservative Lobedu of the sym- bohc importance of the traditional materials. The following information was given by Simeon Modjadji in 1975. There are two types of vuhwera costume—a light one, mamegwane, worn when out in the bush hunting, and a heavier dancing-costume, thogwa. Both have loose fringed skirts, shoulder-bands and a head-dress but the dan
. Annals of the South African Museum = Annale van die Suid-Afrikaanse Museum. Natural history. 96 ANNALS OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN MUSEUM. Fig. 42. Mohwera dancing in courtyard. Photo: E. J. Krige, 1938. indigenous fibres, there is an awareness among conservative Lobedu of the sym- bohc importance of the traditional materials. The following information was given by Simeon Modjadji in 1975. There are two types of vuhwera costume—a light one, mamegwane, worn when out in the bush hunting, and a heavier dancing-costume, thogwa. Both have loose fringed skirts, shoulder-bands and a head-dress but the dancing-costume is far more elaborate and has row upon row of grass cross-bands forming an immense chest and shoulder covering on which rests a crested head-dress adorned with feathers or fur (Fig. 43). Armbands, anklets and, in some cases, underskirts are made of lengths of grass twined together to form flat bands. Thazi grass (Hypar- rhenia filipendula) which has a smooth glossy stem, is the basic material used for all parts of the costume except the skirt, which is made from strips of molala palm leaf. Two-ply fibre string is used to join the pieces of grass together in a special twining technique referred to as khavhe (Fig. 44B). This kind of twining is used for the shoulder-bands, mofhaga, the arm- and legbands, zwifhodo, the head-dress, thoho, and for all other parts of the costume except the skirt, mod- javhe. This is made by knotting long strips of palm leaf on to a rope girdle that, when worn, is wrapped round the waist in layers. Towards the end of the vuhwera the initiates spend most of their time going about to dance at different villages on the invitation of the headmen, or at the. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original South African Museum. Cape Town : The Museum
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectnaturalhistory, booky
