Ngwanatsele (November in Setswana)

Ngwanatsele (November in Setswana)

[ENG] The Setswana name for November is Ngwanatsele. Although it is the eleventh month of the Gregorian Calendar (November/Ngwanatsele) is in fact the third month of the traditional Tswana lunar calendar, whose year starts with the onset on the agricultural season in August/September (Lwetse).

However, this is not as clear-cut as my introduction above makes it seem. Traditional Southern African calendars were based on the moon cycle, as well as annual seasonal rotations. This tended to create complications as a 12-month lunar cycle is bound to fall out of alignment with key season markers, such as mid-winter, mid-summer, beginning of rainy seasons, animal and bird migrations and reproductive cycles, etc. This therefore means the beginning of the planting season will not occur at exactly the same time each solar cycle, as each moon cycle is only 30 days, leaving an accumulation of days which do not fall within the designated months.
After several years, the onset of summer would now appear to be deep in Seetebosigo [June] unless something is done to realign the months. According to some pundits, this is what resulted in the addition of a 13th month (Morule) every five or six years, to correct the alignment of the months with the seasons. The discussion about this 13th month will be included in the Morule [Undecimber] – the 13th Month post.

The Setswana name for November is Ngwanatsele which, unlike those July (Phukwi) and August (Phatwe), does not require too deep an understanding of both Setswana vocabulary and natural phenomena, as it is quite self-explanatory – similar to that of October [Phalane]. Ngwanatsele is a contraction of “ngwana itseele”, which roughly translates to telling a child to collect something for themselves. This points to the abundance of wild berries at this part of the year, so much so that children can actually reach and get them themselves, rather than depend on taller and more agile adults to access them for them.

There is talk however, of an unfortunate observation that during a year where there is an overabundance of wild berries such as those of the mopipi and motlopi trees at this time, it is an indication that that will be a drought year. Admittedly, I have personally observed quite a significantly larger occurrence of these berries this year, and the weather forecasts seem to corroborate this theory.

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