Fashion meets nature and culture.
I recently had the experience of travelling to the Mountain Kingdom - Lesotho, least to say the views were spectacular.
This was my second visit to the monarchy, but the experience was completely different.
Ke MoTswana myself, however, I learnt so much about culture and heritage, more so Basotho and their history. I got to understand the importance of Thaba Bosiu and its ties to King Moshoeshoe, in fact, he is buried on that mountain and it is known to locals that the mountain lights up at night, hence its name.
It was also interesting to know how the Basotho blanket had evolved over the years as the purpose of our visit was to find out how culture and fashion became one.
For those that don't know, here is a quick history lesson:
In 1867, Queen Victoria presented the Basotho King with a blanket which was said to protect the king from encroaching settlers. This colonial print has now become synonymous as a symbol for how the Basotho identify themselves.
As a matter of fact, it is almost impossible to drive less than 2 km without seeing a herd boy badisa - as they call them or herdsmen who don't wear the infamous kobo.
There are also a number of tales I can tell you about badisa, but that's a whole other post on it's own.
As I mentioned earlier, the Basotho blankets have evolved over the years and both men and women in the Basotho culture use the blankets for various reasons.
One phenomenon know global is when a young lady gets married they receive what is known as a seanamarena, this is a blanket specially given to a bride to be, to wear and hand over to her in-laws.
Now, I got to find out that the colour and shape of the blanket might differ across the Batswana and Sotho culture, nonetheless we all understand that seanamarena is a blanket given to the bride.
Besides weddings and herdboys wearing the Basotho blanket, girls that are on their way to initiation also wear the blanket as part of the culture and we were lucky enough to have a chat to the ladies outside their village.
So if you thinking about travelling anywhere this festive season, I'd say take a short right to Lesotho.
Comments