The basotho people at the mountains.

Basotho pictures on rites of passage

                               The basotho boys on initiation from boyhood to men.

Rites of passage in Basotho culture.

Women give birth with the assistance of female birth attends. Traditionally relatives and friends soaked the father with water when his first born child was a girl. If first born was a boy the father was beaten with a stick. The philosophy of this is that Basotho people noticed that life of males is occupied warfare, females by domestic duties such as fetching water. For two months or three months the child was kept secluded with the mother in a special marked hut. The seclusion could be temporarily broken when the baby was brought outside to be introduced to the first rain.
Rite of initiation boys and girls will be introduced into adult hood. Boys initiation involves a lengthy stay in a lodge in a secluded area away from the village they taught appropriate male conduct in marriage, special initiation traditions, cords words and signs and praise songs. In basotho the initiation is marked by the community festival during which the new initiates (mokolwane) sing the praises they have compose. Traditional belief a man who has not undergone the initiation is not considered as adult.
Initiation for girls (bale) also involves seclusion but ritual huts of the bale are generally located near village. Bale wear masks and goat skin skirts and they smear thier bodies with a chalky white substance. They may sometimes may be seen as a group near the home relatives singing dancing and making requests for presents. Among some clans the girls are subjected to tests of pain and endurance. After the period of seclusion the initiates now called litswejane, wear cowhide skirts and anoint themselves with red ocher initiation for girls does not involve any surgical operation in basotho.
In Basotho a period of working in mines was considered a kind of rite of passage that one as a man. Lastly in Basotho when someone dies the whole community takes part in the burial. Speeches are made at the grave side by relatives and friends. Then adult man take turns shoveling soil into the grave with silence. After all things are done as a group to wash thier hands, there may also be a funeral feast.

The Basotho people in their different costumes geared to perfom in certain activities because they value thier culture.

Arts and Crafts of the Basotho

Basotho people are renowned for their crafts. Thier traditional products have a reputation for quality individuality and variety. They have a universal appeal and have help to give Basotho a strong identity. Basotho people has a justifiable reputation for thier fine wool and mohair weaving. Tapestries which are works of art that display thier own unique character and noted for thier beauty softness and strength. The artistic talent of many Basotho women also finds expression in the fine knitwear including scarves and other personal items.
The traditional Basotho Hat called mokorotlo is the best known of a fine range of grass works made by Basotho. Its a conical shape is seen everywhere in the kingdom and is recognised symbol in Basotho society. The Hat's shape was inspired by the profile of Mount Qiloane the legendary conical mountain close to Thaba Bosiu and described by Masupha as Mother and Father. Other locally made gold and silver jewellery decorated with seeds and stones and local pottery that demonstrates the skills and creative art of the village potter.

Basotho people and culture

Although the Basotho people work out side thier country they still contain thier local village and traditional culture is still strong. The family is still the dominant unit and respect for the elder generation is important. Basotho culture is centered on village life and most traditions and festivals relate to local village and seasons of the year.  No traditional wedding is complete without colourful dances. Each village of basotho has a chief or head man who still fall under the chief for the area. The basotho are agriculturists. The chief allocates the fields around the villagers. Different types of crops are cultivated including sorghum,  beans and vegetables. Many local herbs are gathered as green vegetables which the basotho call moroho which give them good health and make them stronger thats thier philosophy. Animals are very important in basotho society. The Basotho pony represents the best form of transport in the mountains and donkeys are often used as pack animals. Most Basotho families have some more cattle and oxen are used to plough the sloping mountain fields. They are also used to supplement thier deit and cows they are killed during some special ceremonies.

Basotho Religion

In pre-conial times the Basotho people worshiped the balimo, the ancestor spirits. They believed that the spirits had power to heal defferent diseases and punish those  who disobeyed laws and customs of the society and balimo can bring misfortune and illness to the community if disobeys the spirits. Their religion was shaped by thier environment in that they are so isolated from others that they were somewhat on thier worship for time and greatly relied on each other rather than outside influences because they are built from unity and peace.

The Basotho religion they was no sacrificial ceremonies like the Ibo tribes made sacrifies to thier gods and ancestors. The Ibo people had many gods whom they worshipped along with the ancestor spirits, whereas there is no mention of the Basotho having any direct gods whom they rely on.

The Basotho were never colonized like many other African tribes, the Basotho appealed to Great Britain in the mid 1800s for help and protection during civil unrest. They independent religion still, yet some have accepted thier British friends Christianity. The British influence of thier religion is from imperialism,  which is the domination of culture over another. As for now, 90% of the Basotho claim to be Christian, most of them being Roman Catholic. Many have combined and intertwined the original religion of the worship of balimo along with practices of Christianity.

How to wear basotho blanket

This video shows how Basotho people wear thier blankets.

Basotho Blanket (kobo)

The traditional Basotho home is rounded style hut with low doorway thatched roof court yard fenced off by a grass door (tswhala). Women would decorate and paint the outside with striking geometric patterns and designs known as litema a word derived from ho lema, meaning to caltivate. Later those designs were transferred to head work , braided hairstyles and most importantly to the BLANKET.

The traditional Sotho blanket is the most significant icon of Basotho Culture,  these are made in many colours and intricately patterned blankets continue to hold much significance for even modern Basotho many Basotho still true to the traditions of the post are distinguished by the blankets they wear over thier shoulders as well as by the design on thier straw hats the design of the Basotho straw hat indicate the status of man.

The Basitho regard thier blanket as life "kobo ke bophelo" and wear them in hot weather today these tribal blankets keeps the body at an even temperature,  does no absorb water and its tolerant of open fires.

The Basotho blanket has its range of functions and social meanings and carries with it many traditions and customs. The blanket is used to carry a young child on a mothers back reflects social standing the geographical origin of the Basotho.
Young male initiates wear the sesecha blanket which means "brand new" as it resembles the trational leopard-skin kaross thus symbolises royalty,  strength and wisdom.

The most meaningful role of the blanket is its use in all rites of passage and as a status symbol. When young boys into retreat to prepare circumcision he wears a special blanket called moholobela. After the ceremony he is entitled to another blanket called the lekhokolo as a proof that he would present his wife with a blanket and a wear a specific to identify him as a married man.

 Significance of the blanket is as an attribute to nationality and the pride of being Basotho people.

   The Basotho people wearing Blanket costume representing their culture.

Basotho people being proud of thier culture.

Basotho boys on initiation.

Courtship and Marriage of Basotho (Lenyalo le ea lefereho ratana) of Basotho.

Ancestry and family (le lapa) connections were very important to social structure of Basotho. The courtship process would start with the boy's father proposing to the girl's parents. If they agree the boy himself come to visit the girl with few friends. After all have been done in Basotho traditional marriages were confirmed by the transer of bohali bride wealth from men's family. This signifies that the women had now become part of man's clan and that thier children would be born with his name. The bohali was usually fixed ten (10) cattle (lehomo) and some goats or sheep but the payment was rarely made in full. This all was done in Basotho because they wanted to strengthen relationship between two families (malapa a). In Basotho linyalo (wedding) was held shortly after the marriage was arranged.

                                             How the couple of Basotho dress during wedding ceremony

                               The Basotho Elders costume for the wedding (lenyalo)

Music and Dance( Lithoko, Lipina and Lifela) of the Basotho people.

Basotho rituals are seldom not practiced without being accompained by music or dance. Music among the Basotho is not only a form of recreation, but is also integral to their culture and daily life. The Basotho delight in music and dance, which accompany many of thier ceremonies and social activities.

 Since music is produced by and for the people it usually associated with any cultural activity or ritual surronding the Basotho people, birth, marriage, initiation and divination. These traditions are evident from much Sesotho literature which includes lithoko (praise poems), lipina (songs) and lifela (melodic poetry). In Basotho since musical sound is shaped by the people's values, beliefs and traditions, the Basotho songs are known to mark cultural experiences. For example, praise singing is mostly competitive recitation of songs and poems about the experiences of Basotho men working on mines.

These songs are refered to as lifela tsa litsamaea naha means song of the travellers. The most common dances mokorotlo, the mohobelo and the mokhibo. The mokorotho dance is perfomed by the men for the chief on important occasions is also taught as a song to the youths at initiation school serving to give them strength,  courage and motivation to persevere during their isolation in the mountains.

                                 The Basotho men performing during special occasions ceremony.

Basotho boys on initiation

Mokorotlo is derived from the word ho korotla meaning to grumble in a low voice most appropriate during battle. In the past the Basotho men sang mokorotlo when they prepared to go to war which gave them a zeal and motivation.

Basotho men prepared for war.

The mohobelo is a dance that requires endurance and energy and is also perfomed by the men, mainly in the evening entertainment and amusement. The makhibo is women's dance perfomed on the knees the body gently rising and falling as the hands are swept upwards in the air. Lipina tsa tantsi are songs which there is a informal choir, female dancers, clapping and a steady rhythm and pace.

The Basotho women performing during different ceremonies. 

Who are the Basotho people?

                                                The King of Basotho Moshoeshoe I.

This group formed by Moshoeshoe I who gathered together clans of Sotho- Tswana. The Basotho are the Bantu ethnic group whose ancestors have lived in Southern Africa since  around fifth century. The Basotho people can be traced back to the arrival of the Bantu speaking people south of Limpopo River. The Sotho was in turn divided into arguably three subgroups like the western Sotho (Batswana) day today they still exist in country called  Botswana, northern Sotho (Bapedi) present day their are there in South Africa, southern Sotho  (Basotho) in Lesotho. All these groups they still refer to as Basotho even they divided into three groups. The meaning of word sootho "brown" ones owing to the colour of their skin into consideration. The Basotho distinguished themselves from other tribes their philosophy was kgotso e aha setjhaba "peace build nations". The king of Moshoeshoe accepted and gave greater care from other tribes who where running from suffering for example refugees during the days of war and drought. That's  how Moshoeshoe built the Basotho nation through peace.

                                               The Basotho king and his ministers

Homesteads of Basotho people.

Costumes of Basotho the hat a conical woven hat with distinctive topknot is a symbol of  unification. It also depicts a mountain top, conical and topknotted, which is visible from fortress and tomb of Moshoeshoe I their king.