From the first bag (the one from the cave) came a plague of ants that ate every grain of stored millet in the village. From the second bag (the one from the eland) came a silence so profound that the people forgot the names of their own ancestors.
Derived from the Setswana root word kgabisa —which translates to "to accessorize" or "to adorn"—the makgabe is much more than a simple garment. Material Construction the story of the makgabe
To understand the story of the makgabe, one must understand the traditional Tswana lifecycle and the way clothing signalled a girl’s transition from childhood to adolescence to full womanhood. In traditional Tswana society, a girl began wearing a makgabe from an early age. As explained: “Back in the days they would wear this up until they are older, like young women with their fully developed breasts”. From the first bag (the one from the
They journeyed for three sunrises. They crossed the dry riverbed of the Molopo and climbed the razorback ridges where the leopards watched from the rocks. On the third evening, they found the spoor. It was enormous—the hoofprints of a poho ya naga (the great bull eland), an animal so large and majestic that the Basotho believe its fat can heal the sick and its hide can summon rain. Material Construction To understand the story of the
The conspiracy began. For one full moon cycle, Tau and Phiri hid the two makgabae (plural) in a hollow baobab tree. They told the village a simple lie: They had found a natural spring and a herd of wild game. Nothing supernatural. Just luck.