ABC Wednesday X is for Xhosa

The Xhosa or Frontier Wars took place intermittently between 1779 and 1879 and were fought between the Xhosa people, who farmed crops and cattle in the Eastern Cape of South Africa, and the Cape Colonists. There were nine wars in all, centring on the requirement of an increasing number of immigrant Europeans to find good farming land.

The Cape was annexed by the British in 1806. Settlers complained about Xhosa raids and British expeditions were sent to impose law and order. Eventually, the British dominated the area, which led to conflicts with the Boers and other settlers as well as the Xhosa people.

The Fourth War, from 1811 – 1812, was the first to involve professional British soldiers. By this time the Boers and the British occupied the East and the Xhosa were in the West. Between the two locations lay an area of neutral territory called the Zuurfeld, but the Xhosa had moved to control this land in 1811, causing trouble with the colonists. Colonel John Graham was tasked to eject the Xhosa from this area.

The site of Colonel Graham’s headquarters formed the foundation of the town now known as Grahamstown (Grahamstad in Afrikaans)

In 1857 a Xhosa prophet told his people of a prophecy that said that if all the cattle were slaughtered, as a sacrifice, the British would be deposed. This action brought about widespread starvation and ended the ability of the Xhosa to resist for twenty years.

At the end of the nine wars the remaining Xhosa lands were absorbed into the Cape Colony. 

There are currently around eight million Xhosa in South Africa and Xhosa is the second most common native language after Zulu, though many Xhosa also speak Zulu, English or Afrikaans. The language uses ‘click’ consonants as shown in the YouTube clip below.

Nelson Mandela, Thabo Mbeki and Desmond Tutu are three famous Xhosa.

Click here to see more Xs.

April A to Z blogging challenge Uvula

Uvula – we all have one. It’s that funny little soft bit that hangs from the roof of the mouth near the back of your throat.

Diagram courtesy of Wikipedia

I looked up uvula, just to make sure I’d got the right word – I always check everything, even when I’m absolutely sure I’m correct – and found out some interesting facts. It’s fairly obvious that the uvula plays an important role in speech but for some people it does not close correctly against the back of the throat. This results in nasal speech when a lot of air comes down the nose and the speaker cannot articulate some consonants.

English has no uvular consonants, though many European and African countries do. The most remarkable example of uvular consonants is in the Khoisan or click languages of Southern and Eastern Africa.

Sometimes the uvula becomes swollen, typically in children with tonsillitis. Other causes include, among other things, dehydration, infection and allergic reaction. Some children are born with a split (bifid or bifurcated) uvula. New-born babies with a cleft palate will also have a split uvula.

Do you or your partner snore? Blame it on your uvula! It will not be a problem to people born in some parts of Ethiopian and Eritrea where a traditional healer removes all or part of the uvula. Strangely, this does not seem to result in nasal speech unless the tonsils have also been removed.

In the course of my reading I discovered something unbelievable! Some people have their uvulas pierced and decorated with rings. It is an unusual piercing, since there is a strong gag reflex associated with the uvula. There is also an associated health hazard for if the jewellery should come loose and be inhaled, surgery would be necessary to locate and remove it.