Getting to know the meaning behind the Ndebele blanket and colours
The brown (ndzotho) colour on the blanket signifies land, yellow (sarulana) represents the sun; blue (stinyana) represents water while the red colour represents blood (bomvu) and green (hlaza) represents the plantation.
Kwatsaduza – As we celebrate Heritage Month, we look into significant elements of different ethnic groups in South Africa.
The Ndebele tribe is known for their colourful blankets, known as umbhalo. It signifies the five important elements a human being needs to live.
The brown (ndzotho) signifies land; yellow (sarulana) represents the sun; blue (stinyana) represents water; red represents blood (bomvu); and green (hlaza) represents the plantation.
The umbhalo is worn vertically to show how life is created on earth. It shows the spiritual connection between the skies and the earth.
For example, the process of water from the sky to the ground and also when water from the rivers and sea evaporates it goes back to the sky and becomes clouds which create the rain which comes back to the ground.
That is the cycle of life; it is eternal and does not end. This cycle of life dictates how the Ndzundza nation wears its abogedlana (neck bangles).
Married men wear only blue and white bangles to signify the strength of water (water is life). The blue signifies water and white means water brings light to the nation.
A nation without water is in darkness because it would not be able to survive. The king is the only person who adds the red bangle because he is the father of the nation.
The red colour means we are all the children (subjects) of the king – bloodlines. Ndebele women wear use pink and powder blue colours.
Pink (zuba) is the combination of red and white, while powder blue (bukhobe) is the combination of blue and white.
These signify that women give birth to the nation.
