The beauty of the Bapedi culture
BONUS spoke to Pedi women who showcase their culture and heritage through their attire and they explained how to wear a combination of the Bapedi traditional attire.
POLOKWANE – Bapedi is one of the tribes in South Africa and has its origins in Limpopo province with Northern Sotho, or Sesotho sa Leboa, one of South Africa’s 11 official languages.
This language consists of up to 30 different dialects, one of which is Pedi. Much confusion surrounds this term, as Sepedi, the language spoken by the Pedi people, which has been often referred to as Northern Sotho has been subdivided into the high-veld Sotho and the low-veld Sotho.
High-veld Sotho is fairly recent and originates from immigrants mostly from the west and southwest whereas the low-veld Sotho comes from immigrants from the north and has been spoken longer.
The high-veld Sotho include the Pedi,Tau, Roka, Ntwane, Mphahlele, Tšhwene, Mathabathe, Kone (Ga-Matlala), Dikgale, Batlokwa, Gananwa (Ga-Mmalebogo), Mmamabolo, and Moletši. The low-veld Sotho include the Lobedu, Narene, Phalaborwa, Mogoboya, Molepo, Kgakga, Pulana, Pai, and Kutswe.
Groups are named by using the names of totemic animals and sometimes by alternating or combining these with the names of famous chiefs.
BONUS spoke to Pedi women who showcase their culture and heritage through their attire and they explained how to wear a combination of the Bapedi traditional attire.
Dineo Ngwetsana said: “I am a proud Pedi woman and I put on this attire with pride as it symbolises our identity. Each Pedi woman should own a set of traditional attire not only to celebrate Heritage Day but to celebrate their roots and love of their culture. Our clothes normally comprise bright colours as it represents happiness meaning we showcase our love and happiness through our clothes. If you want to be good looking in the attire, one must wear hele (the inner fabric that we tie on our waist) and the top part we wear, metsheka. These must match the moruka you wear on your head”.
Another proud Pedi woman, Shirley Setsiba, added: “Our tradition is beautiful to those who can match and play around with it. You’ll see someone wearing our traditional attire from afar and know the queen of the north is here”.
Rebecca Baloyi explained as they get older, they have the responsibility to share their traditions and clothes with the younger generation and encourage them to continue taking pride in their heritage. “A Pedi woman isn’t just an ordinary woman, she is unique through the clothes she wears and her attire portrays a sense of respect. During weddings we come together in our traditional attire but it doesn’r need to be limited to weddings and special occasions, you can wear it with pride every day.”
