I have a lot of mbwiti friends who never believe me when I tell them this!!! Some of us were raised by parents who didn’t allow mediocrity from specifickids in the house. You’ll be punished and scolded the whole holiday for having all As and 1 B😭😭😭
Growing up it has always been hard to impress a wamboe mother because even if you did something wonderful inside the house, that woman would start shouting before she even enters it😂😭😭💀
@purposetalks_ Don’t laugh😭 I watched my siblings get rewards for obtaining 50s and 60s while all I got was “I know you’re not dumb to produce those results, there’s no way who who can score higher than you. Next term I want you 1st position”🤭🤭
The Gifting Of Children At Weddings Goes A Long Way.
Today, in some parts of Owambo, it's symbolic of blessings for conception. In other parts it's literal gifting. Such a child is even referred to as "okapewa", which means the child was given, the same way "okatekulu" means one that was raised by somebody who isn't their biological parent(s).
Children are given. We have grown up knowing such children. If the child is referred to as "okapewa/omupewa" it means they were given as a gift at a wedding. Those given anywhere else are just referred to as outekulu. Onhu a yandja outeku. It doesn't only end with kids. People also give "ousita" where you give livestock to a relative who lives where there's greener pasture/safety.
It's tricky with children though, and that part of our culture, I hate it because it has always been a way of pruning.
We, Aawambo have a dark tradition. Apart from thatching and setting on fire women who fell pregnant before Olufuko, and qualifying women for marriage based on physical looks, we pruned children.
Back in the days, unwanted children were used for tasting food that hadn't been eaten before. If they died, then it meant the food was poisonous for human consumption.
Today we wonder: "how did they discover this is edible?" Exactly like that - feeding it to unwanted kids. Now that we have laws and advanced investigations, the practice of getting rid of such children is done through giving them away as "gifts", sacrificing them in rituals especially by rich uncles/fathers and sometimes in cahoots with their biological mothers, etc.
Sometimes even the child that's being advanced knows. It's the same way we remove the mahangu that's not so promising, in order for the resources to go to the promising ones.
Traditionally those children aren't even given with well wishes. They're given as "helpers/servants/slaves". They never progress in life because they're never treated as the biological children that are later conceived in the marriage. They're there to kwiinina, cook and do all the hard labour for the couple.
You'd never see parents "gifting" the kids they love the most, and they mostly also never gift their first borns or last borns. For some reason it's always middle borns, and the left-handed. You can research on this. It's a dark practice where those things come from.
To tag a side topic along, Wambos didn't believe in Abortion, but they believed in something more cruel. The person must be born, then we see how we make use of them. We might need to send someone kohambo just to be a career cattle herder for us, or someone to sacrifice for wealth, or to use to taste if certain foods we have interest in are poisonous, or to just give away a child because somebody asked for a child since there is a weakness at their house.
It's simply human pruning. People never give away a child they love no matter the poverty. And cultural practices are interpreted differently. In Ombalanhu if you find people starting to eat or just started, it means you're a hard worker as opposed to finding them finishing. So, you just wash your hands and join. We just throw in a small "owa hanga atu li" just to welcome you. In Oukwambi, you wait until you're called. In Zambezi, it means you don't like to work, you just like eating.
The same applies to gifting children. A symbol on one side, and a literal gift on the other, but the origin of gifting children at weddings is darker than narratives and online debates.
I don't support it.
In my 37 years of living, I’ve been babied for too long that I don’t even know where to start with my Wi-Fi things😭 I have no idea about any of these “Big Girl” bills😩
Ngashi ne omundji mwavala kondje yondjokana, you would’ve been dead by now if Aawambo people were to follow tradition..
You guys are too selective with your so called traditions.