On the ark
you guys thanks a milion for such an interesting discussion, I thought i was the only one haunted with the possibility of zimbabweans having a link with the biblical israel!!!!
Pfumo nemuridzi waro
Iyi ngano iyi ndakainzwa musuuno. Yakandifadza chaizvo ndikati zvimwe pane anga nakidzwa wo nayo .
Zvinonzi musuuno, VaTsvangirai nekufamba famba kwavarikuita, vaifamba zvavo muAddis Ababa. Vainge vari kutevedza mumvuri we stubhu vachitaura zvavo nevamwe vaiva vava shamwaridza muguta imomo. Vakaerekana vadzivirirwa pamberi pavo nemumwe murume. Aive mukuru asi asati achembera - sezvatakangoita wo isusu. Aive ne mhumhu mudiki asi akakombama kombama musana. Muruwoko rwerudyi maive mune mubhadha murefu uri mukobvu, waito enzana kureba naVaTsvangirai. Kufamba aito zendamira mubhadha uyu onzvizvuva. Tsanda dzemumaoko dzaive dzakakura dzakati tande kurakidza kusimba chaizvo. Read more
ለደት-The Rastafarian Christmas
Filed under: Inspire & motivate, News you won't find elsewhere, Religion, Spirituality for such a time, Topical issues
The following articel was originally published in the 24th December 2006 edition of The Sunday Mirror, Harare. The video depicts an Ethiopian hymn celebrating the Birth of Christ.
በተሳብ ቂዱስ The Blessed Virgin Maryam and Her Son
Lidät – the Rastafarian Christmas
Christmas as the saying goes, means different things to different people.
Even so, being the only Rastafarian in my wide circle of friends and family, my way of marking this occasion remains something of an enigma. I get many cards, and presents, but I never return the gesture. I also decline to attend Christmas parties. Then, in the first week of January, those of my people that are online get e-cards with the Amharic Greeting, Inkwan lalidätu baal badahna adarrasaw (lit. “Congratulations, to the Birth of Him the feast in safety He has brought you”)
And so, it emerges that Rastafarians do celebrate the Birth of Christmas, except that it’s not called Christmas and it’s not celebrated on the 25th of December. It is called Lidät, an Amharic word meaning “Birthday”. Because the Amharic language has its own alphabet, you will sometimes find this spelt as Ledet or Lidet as there is no standard transliteration in Western letters.
Already, it is clear from the name that the origin of this custom is Ethiopia, the spiritual home of Rastafari. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church, one of the oldest Christian Churches in the world, has been celebrating the Birth of Christ on the 7th of January long before European Christendom even came up with its own version of Christmas. In the light of the on-going controversy about the exact date, let me hasten to mention that the Orthodox Church does not claim that this was the day Jesus was born. Rather, the Feast was instituted by the Three Kings who arrived in Bethlehem on this day and paid homage to the Infant Christ.
“Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him,” Gospel of Matthew 2:1-2.
Further testament of the particular importance of Lidät is found in a prophecy of the visit if these Three Kings, dating from the time of the Patriarch Adam, who was given their gifts as a consolation after his expulsion from Eden.
“After these things God said to Adam, You asked Me for something from the garden, to be comforted therewith, and I have given you these three tokens as a consolation to you; that you trust in Me and in My covenant with you. For I will come and save you; and kings shall bring me when in the flesh, gold, incense and myrrh; gold as a token of My kingdom; incense as a token of My divinity; and myrrh as a token of My suffering and of My death. But, O Adam, put these by you in the cave; the gold that it may shed light over you by night; the incense, that you smell its sweet savour; and the myrrh, to comfort you in your sorrow,” I Adam and Eve 31: 1-3.
Tradition has it that Balthasar, one of the Three Kings, was from Ethiopia, and is often depicted as a Black man even in the West.
The Visit of the Three Kings in European Art.
In Ethiopia, Lidät is celebrated with a special service at church. The more devout will fast on the gahad (“Christmas Eve”), and the even more devout for 40 days prior. At home, a big feast is prepared. No tree, no snow, no mistletoe. The main decoration depicts the Manger scene, where the Three Kings pay homage to the Infant. Tradition has it that Balthasar, the Ethiopian King, brought the frankincense. And, only children get presents. On this day, children play a hockey-like game called Genna, from where we get the alternative name of the Feast.
It is easy to see why this version of Christmas appeals to the Rastafarian, quite apart from the fact that it signifies a return to an original, African Judaeo-Christian tradition. Lidät is there in the Bible! It is not corrupted by the materialism, debauchery and the occult overtones of the Western Christmas. In fact, when we look upon the rest of society taking part in Christmas, we see what goes on as proof of what has become an established teaching of the various Rastafarian movements- that the world is ruled by a Luciferian political and economic Order, and that what is now commonly called “Christianity” (derisively called the “Ghost-spell”) is a tool to control the masses, and deny them their heritage.
One has only to look at the millions of human beings slaving in Asian sweat-shops for less than a dollar a day- generating US$32b- so that the European child can have the latest MP3 player to see that this Christmas does not convey goodwill to all Mankind. This child is told that the gift came from Santa Claus, whose address is always given as the North Pole, and was made by his elves. To celebrate Christmas on Western terms is therefore to condone, sustain, even, such a system. This is why I won’t attend the Christmas parties.
In Zimbabwe, celebration of this Christmas by African people is no more than active cooperation in this same global political system’s continuing operation to suck wealth from this country, for the benefit of other people. And what do we get out of it- no money for school fees in January!
Many have asked me why I have continued to observe Lidät, despite the scorn and condemnation that is often poured on me even by friends and family and despite the fact that I am often alone. But, I know the nature of that which I have embraced, and also of that which I have rejected. So, there can be no question that I can be detracted, especially not by people who do not have a clue what Christmas is really about.
O Judah, keep thy solemn feasts, perform thy vows: for the wicked shall no more pass through thee; he is utterly cut off, Nahum 1:15.
And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God,” Romans 12:2.
As I said, Christmas means different things to different people. For some, it is about spending US dollars, the loot of deals in the parallel economy, on the latest gadgets and trinkets. For some, the urge to spend all the bonus on booze and women will once again prove irresistible.
But for the Rastafarian, it is a time to not only celebrate the birth of our Lord and Saviour in the manner prescribed by tradition, but to reflect on this event in the context of the original prophecy as told to our father Adam, and the expectations of the time of the manifestation of God not only as Priest but King, which the Emperor Haile Selassie has fulfilled. Next year in September, according to the Ethiopian calendar, begins the new Millenium. Just as we use A.D. to denote dates in the Western calendar, they are called Amet Meherit ( the year of Mercy).
So, this year is the 1999th Year of Mercy. This, to the Rastafarian, says that despite all the disasters that have befallen Mankind, there is still purpose and beauty in life because of the Mercy that our Creator has shown us. Could a more precious gift be asked for?
ማልካም ባአል ሁሉ (Malkam Baal hulu -Happy Holiday to you all!)
Ethiopian hymn celebrating the Birth of Christ
Deliver us from Facebook, amen
Filed under: Family, Friendship, Community, I was just thinking
I have nothing against social network sites having been on MySpace for close to a year now but I have always had this thing for Facebook. To say I hated it would be an understatement; I loathed it perhaps more than I hate AIDS. The dislike went on to the extent that I would give everyone who was on the network a long good lecture. Whether it was too my disadvantage or not I dont know, but soon everyone got the hang of it and stopped telling me they were on facebook. Can you believe that even my best friend hid it from me for two years?
Whenever I surfed the net, I would make sure that the site was nowhere near my URL address bar and I would groan and moan especially in internet cafes where every Tom and Dick would be logged on. You know, its as irritating as walking out of your house with a confident gait in your new Guccis, Prada and Armani only to find that everyone is putting on the same thing. Correct me if I am wrong but isn’t Facebook supposed to be used by people of a certain social standing who are in a certain age group? What then happens if a granddad is the number one user? Read more
Zim- Dog Eat Dog Nation
Last weekend, I happened to have got the recently introduced $100 and $50 million dollar notes. I went out of Harare. Just as I got back into town, the following day, I wanted to board a kombi home but failed to, for a possible 2hrs. Not that there were no kombis, but the hwindis (conductors) wanted only people with smaller denominations. I thought of buying airtime so I could get change for transport, but the vendors said they had no change. I went into the shops, and tried to get something to eat, but they had no change. Finally, someone hinted- if you go by Chinhoyi St and Speke Ave, you will find guys selling ‘change’. You give them Z$50 million, they give you Z$40 million in smaller denominations. If you give them Z$100, they give you Z$80 million as ‘change’. Though not suprised by that move, I still wonder where we are going. In areas like Greendale, Mandara, Mabvuku, Tafara, Glen View, other people with access to water, sell it per litre to desperate Zimbos.
Zimbabwe is now a nation whereby individuals who have ’something’ which will be in shot supply, try to gain as much as possible from that through selling it to others at exhorbitant prices.
Can the media stop prostitution?
Filed under: Family, Friendship, Community, Health & Well Being, I was just thinking, Joking around, Opinion, Analysis, Advice, Relationships, Religion, Social Issues, Spirituality for such a time
Do not prostitute thy daughter, to cause her to be a whore; lest the land fall to whoredom, and the land become full of wickedness-Leviticus 19:29
I don’t think it is news to any Zimbabwean that the crisis that has engulfed our nation has seen a rise in prostitution. Yet the media seems to think it should be news. Time and time again, the pages of the few remaining papers will have some account of these women who feel they have no choice but to sell their bodies. We are told how they are afraid of AIDS, but fear the imminent death from hunger even more. Then, of course, the papers find something else to fill their pages with.
Yes, I am coming down on our media! It is deplorable, this morbid fascination with a social evil and the victims of it that makes little effort to illicit at least our sympathy let alone motivate us to want to do something about it. Interviews with a couple of prostitutes, a generous supply of directions for those who don’t know where they can procure the services of these women and how much it will cost and a statement from a pastor nobody has ever heard of only leaves me wondering what the aim in printing such a story was. Read more
Phanuel Mverengwi new blog
Please note that I am now blogging at
http://phanuelmuverengwi.blogspot.com
Thanks.
Use your talents
Filed under: How Zimbabwe can be better, Inspire & motivate
Its so amazing that each and every one of us has something peculiar to us. Think about the fact that of the seven billion people that are inhabiting the world today, there is no single person who has finger prints like anyone else’s. That indeed is a miracle, a mystery that we can never be able to decode.
But thats not what I want to share with you fellow Zimbabweans. What I want to share with you is the peculiar thing we all posess- different talents.
One person has a very good voice whilst the next person is a powerful business administrator who can turn businesses right side up. We all have different talents, our strengths, things that we are good at.
I recently did an interview with one of the country’s upcoming musician who at a tender age of 19 has released an album, won numerous awards and perfomed in the United States. The question that he evoked in me was how at a tender age he has done what others have failed to do? I expected an arrogant statement, ‘I have worked hard for it.’ No, I was in for a surprise, ‘I have concentrated on my talent and did things that I liked doing,’ was his simple answer Read more
Nzwiraiwo vamwe
Mandiwana ! Mandibata ! Handityi !
Handizi ndega. Ndiri ‘fandareva.
Ndionerei zvenyu pasi. Muchapagara.
Kwamuri ndiri mbeu yeparuware.
Asi ndipo paino onekwa nevakawanda
Rovai zvenyu. Pondai ! Handirove.
Magaro, tsoka, musana, sikarudzi.
Chirarai hope dzandashaya, dzimai
Pfungwa nezvipo, muumbavha gutsanai
Kundipfuudza kusandigumisa.
onai meso avanhu, ringai maziso avo
Ndiri mwenje mubako. Uchapisa.
Kunzwira vamwe kuti vave vanhu, semi.
Farai Madzimbamuto
Nov 2008.
Nyadire
Nyadire, rwizi rwekwedu rwakandirera.
Rwaive nemadziva akarema nemazambuko
Rwuno pinda nemumisha yakawanda
Marwuno pfuura rwakatakura madiro
Rwakazara rwainzwika nekure kushinyira
Nepamutserendende pataitambira, tsve mombe.
Zigwengwe kuribata, dzinza rese raitunhidzwa
Musorochena kudai, mucherechdzo wenguva
Asi tiri hova imwe, kubvira pamadiro
Anotiona zvino ano shaya mavambo edu
Misodzi yako ndakaitiva, ndika nwira
Takapa mvura vashomavo, tikapatsanisa
Vasinga gare vese. Tava pamasangano
Nzizi dzenyu nedzedu, dziri muvana vedu.
Farai Madzimbamuto
Nov 2008
On The Zimbo Jam- Alick Macheso- Lucky Guitarist or Musical Genius?By Memory Chirere Although many Zimbabwean music lovers are agreed that Alick Macheso is the King of Sungura, the Zimbabwean brand of Rhumba, that is as far as the agreement will go. As Masimba Kuchera admits in an article on the Chesopower website, ‘there have been many schools of thought on the (real) strength of Macheso- some arguing about his skills with the bass guitar, some contending that it is his vocals and others proffering his dancing skills, it is generally agreed that the musician is of immense talent.’ When people agree that you are extremely talented but go on to debate hotly about exactly whether your strength lies in theway you walk or the way you run, then that is a mark of genius. You actually put people in a crisis of naming aspects of a phenomenon.
- A Dance Farewell for Isabel MatolaBy Ruvimbo Hope Masike Here is one of the most beautiful things about Zimbabwe. It is inimitably Zimbabwean. We Zimbabweans love peace, of course, among other things. We love fun, joy and we are naturally celebratory people even when there isn’t much to celebrate about. For instance young children jump around joyously chanting “Ndege! Ndege!” when an aeroplane passes over them. Now when there is something worthy of the celebration, the joy is electric, understandably so, considering how almost everything else around us is seemingly dull and confusing and uninspiringly so. As a result, when Isabel Matola’s Mozambique Dance Festival came by, it turned out to be one of the brightest lights in town, which was a well deserved acclaim.
- Kanda Bongo Man Lands in Harare With One Guitar[Herald] France-based rhumba maestro Kanda Bongo Man had just one guitar when he set out to perform at the Harare International Conference Centre on Wednesday evening, and his day was saved by a local musician who offered him his instruments on the 11th hour to avert what could have turned out to be an international disaster.
- Alick Macheso- Lucky Guitarist or Musical Genius?
