Dipaka [The Four Seasons]

Although we talk of the four seasons and have found a way to split our year quarterly, the climate and weather cycles in Botswana do tell us a different story, and gives weight to the notion that Batswana originally only spoke of three seasons: Summer, autumn, and winter. The traditional lunar year is said to have started at the onset of summer (August/September) and the planting season. Autumn was viewed, not as a sad time when winter sets in, but rather as a happy time – a time of plenty – where all the fruits of the labour that was invested in agricultural production finally become abundant. Winter was the short, cold, dry period in between, and Batswana have since learnt to fit spring in somewhere at the beginning of “summer”.
Selemo [Summer]
The first, longest, and perhaps most important season of the traditional Setswana year. The name selemo literally references planting time, and is also used by Basotho to mean year. It span for around six months – ending at harvest time (around March/April), which marked the beginning of autumn.
In the modern [Gregorian] calendar, summer has been attributed to the months of November, December, and January. Ironically, in a normal (non-drought) year, October is usually the hottest month, as continual rains and cloud cover make these designated summer months cooler.
Another complication that arose during the summer was that apparently Batswana of old used both the lunar and solar calendars concurrently. The solar calendar determined the seasons, and since it is not congruent with the lunar one, once every so often, the months would fall out of alignment with the seasons. This was rectified with the inclusion of the “part-time” thirteenth month, Morule. This is what resulted in December having two Setswana names: Sedimonthole (actual December), and Morule (corrective 13th month).
Gwetla/Letlhafula [Autumn]
Although now regarded as a season, the words “letlhafula” and “legwetla” originally meant harvest-time, and was more of a social season that a geographic one. Indeed there are some who still argue that Batswana live through only two geographic seasons, and the other two are just artificial and token.
Even though ”gwetla” started off as a shortening of the word legwetla, it has now taken centre-stage, and many younger speakers find “legwetla” somewhat alien.
This fairly short festive season extended from February/March to April/May (depending on the presence of Morule in that year). The Gregorian autumn now spans February to April, and is famous for having one of the equinoxes in its centre in March. Equinoxes [from Old French: “equal nights”] is the day when the length of daylight hours is exactly 12 hours, just as the night hours.
Mariga [Winter]
Both calendars agree on this one. At the centre of this cold, dry season is a month Batswana decided to call Seetebosigo [do not visit at night] for obvious reasons. The nights are long and cold, and in the olden days, the inconvenience that came with it was enough of a deterrent to would-be night callers. July rivals June with its coldness, and had actually gained a reputation for harbouring the coldest breezes, that could drop temperatures below zero. However, it would begin to warm up again very rapidly in August, and September when the summer began.
The winter also boasts its important geographic day: the winter solstice. At the end of the third week of June, this occurs simultaneously with what is known as the summer solstice in the northern hemisphere. All factors equal, the winter solstice is supposed to be the coldest day of the year, with the longest night and shortest daylight hours.
Dikgakologo [Spring]
Also another “artificial” season, whose name is quite difficult to explain without borderline referring to the melting of snow or frost. The idea of snow is not as far-fatched as it may initially seem, given the arid climate of the land of modern Batswana. However, until a few hundred years ago, Batswana generally lived further south, and some even on the same snowy peaks of the Drankesburg that are home to their cousins, the Basotho. The fact that a Setswana word for snow, “kapoko” exists, pretty much affirms this notion.
This season is at the very end or beginning of the traditional year (depending how one looks at it), and was often associated with ill-health caused by pollen and the general change in atmospheric conditions, giving rise to the Setswana name for September being “Lwetse”, which means illness.
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