The Basotho Origin of Calendar and Cosmology

By Mocholoko Dr. Zulumathabo Zulu © 2022

Dedication

The Research Scientist and Director of Madisebo University Research Institute (project of the independent Madisebo University College) and published author Mocholoko Dr. Zulumathabo Zulu dedicates this special article Periodicity of the Moon and the Womb during the women’s month of August 2022 to the indefatigable women (also known as wombmen) of the collective Dikgwedi / Izinyanga under the unbought and unsold leadership of Mme Galetlolwe Semenya and Gogo Tsoana Nhlapo of Azania (South Africa). See Dikgwedi / Izinyanga logo below:

The Preamble .

In the unpubliashed MSS “The White Establishment” in Cultural Hegemony and Nkukumuism (Zulu, 2018) we read the following:

“Cultural knowledge is existential to the African essence and there is no alternative to that. The thesis of cultural hegemnony is to dilute the African essence and to produce alternatives to the African values and the moral code by promoting the superiority of Western ideas and Eurocentricity as the new lens of the African identity”.

It is the consistent aim of the ECC (Euro-Christian Colonialism) and the White establishment of the WASP (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant) to emasculate the physico-intellectual prowess of the Melanin and to subject the Melanin to a perpetual state of external dependency so that the Melanin is shackled; unbalanced and economically disenfranchised and unable to direct the destiny of yena.

Notwithstanding, it does not have to be this way. We can change the trajectory of this unfortunate state of affairs. Enter the new disruptive paradigm that reorganises time and blends the sacred rhythms of the Moon of the cosmic space and the Womb of the terrestrial space to engender a new way of living. To defeat the ECC, we require the two inputs of the Moon and the Womb to transcend the perturbations of the terrestrial space and to climb to greater heights like the indefatigable Leqathatsa (Seagull) that rises effortlessly and flawlessly (Zulu, 2022) with vertical lift as if by magic.

This new paradigm is the sacred source of the organising principles that empower us with Ditaelo Tse Tharo (Imiyalelo Emithathu; The Three Organising Principles) namely (1) Ila/Zila/Abstinance; (2) Hlweka/Hlanzeka/Cleansing and (3) Boka/Bonga/Veneration. These hallowed principles are inspired by the rhythms of the Moon and the Womb. Without further ado, Periodicity of the Moon and the Womb.

Periodicity of the Moon and the Womb
By Mocholoko Dr. Zulumathabo Zulu © 2022

periodicity of the Moon,
guided like compass in Monsoon.
To hearten ships of the ancients
To discharge distant commitments
Like enterprising culture of Letsema
To bring revenues transacted
Having fulfiled the contracted

periodicity of the Womb,
like new period in the Classroom.
To teach them the enterprising culture
To engender the stability
To enhance survivability
Moon and Womb from Normadic
Preserved the time like periodic

Contextual Commentary

When we first began (Zulu, 2014b) the project of Contextual Poetry more than 40 years ago in Azania (South Africa) in 1978 in a small town of Christiana at then Western Transvaal and now North West province, we were inspired by the plethora of Griot stories of Matamong in the Eastern Free State province among the great people of the Basotho. The Basotho include Batswana; Bapedi and Bashoeshoe.

The sacrosanct mission of Contextual Poetry is intended to blend the Basotho principles of Nkareteng (metaphysics) and the great struggle for existence in the context of the African Native who is highly brutalised at the present juncture by the daily aggressions of the ECC (Euro-Christian Colonialism) and some colonial descendants. Metaphysics, in this case, is the scientific study of reality. Since the Church and the historically colonial schools miseducate us about reality, it is a perpetual imperative to foreground the metaphysical cases of reality so that the psyche of the dispossessed is emancipated from the delusions and the mirages of the White establishment.

The great village of Matamong foregrounds reality as the essence of knowledge as opposed to Western architects of knowledge such as the English WASP (White Anglo-Saxon Protestants) who foreground abstract ideas as the ultimate baseline of knowing.

African mathematical linguistics is a prerequisite key to enable us to unlock the essence of the morphological strategy gifted to us by the erudite African ancients who have gone before us.

The Sesotho word Tseba has two parts namely (1) Tse and (2) Ba. Tse is about the sensing and Ba is about the pluralistic principles of knowing. Thus, Tseba says in order to know you must know about sensory knowledge and the the plurality of knowing as confirmed in Tsebe (ear) which is a sensing organ of plurality.

Thus, Contextual Poetry is a literary system that pursues the scientific study of reality in the context of the African phenomenon. This metaphysical strategy of knowing enables the African Native to have an instinctive grasp of reality so that yena does not have to believe the unbelievable and accept the unacceptable. Thus, next time you see Contextual Poetry now you know the story of genesis.

As a result of this scientific study of the metaphysical cases of reality, we show herein that the African ancients had organised time so that it was harmonised with the periodic rhythms of the Moon and the Womb. As a result of this cosmologic coalescence, our ancestors were successful traders with other nations of the World teaching us that the essence of time is existential to survivability and success.

In this radical article Periodicity of the Moon and the Womb: The Basotho Origin of Calendar we discuss the thesis of five principles namely (1) cosmology; (2) Basotho calendar; (3) Letsema; (4) unity of the moon and the womb and (5) the implications thereof.

The Cosmology

Nalane (cosmology) has a mathematical beginning as confirmed by the word Pedi (two) with two parts namely (1) Pe and (2) Di. Pe describes something that exists as in Tshepe (antelope) and also something you cannot exist without as in Pelo (heart). Di refers to the primordial waters of creation from the ancient Sesotho word Mokedi (Zulu, 2014a) as defined in the book The Sacred Knowledge of the Desert: African Philosophical Transcendence.

In order for the Universe to materialise into existence, it required two inputs namely (1) Peo (primeval seed) and (2) Mokedi (primordial water of creation). When Peo intersected with Mokedi, there was a massive explosion which birthed the elements; the atmosphere; the stars; the galaxies; the constellations; the mist; the clouds; large bodies of water and the polymorphism of carbon existence. In alignment with this cosmologic principle, Sesiu (granary) is named for Tosamasiu (Sirius). The reason for this cosmologic concordance is that it is the primeval seed that was contained in the Cosmic Granary and the primordial water was contained in the Cosmic Egg.

Cosmology is based on three sacrosanct principles namely (1) Cosmogony; (2) Cosmography and (3) Indigenisation.

The Cosmogony

The cosmogony is about the African genesis as defined in the book The Sacred Knowledge of the Desert: African Philosophical Transcendence quoted below:

“The Basotho, like other Africans, trace their genesis to the Cosmos. They originate from Mokgubu wa Kganare (the [umbilical] galactic core”. Square brackets are mine.

“The Basotho, like other Africans, trace their genesis to the Cosmos. They originate from Mokgubu wa Kganare (the [umbilical] galactic core”. Square brackets are mine.

Thus, the African originates from the star systems of Tosamasiu. As an evidence of this extraterrestrial origin, the Basotho call themselves Badumedi (plural) or Modumedi (singular). Modumedi is someone who originates from the distant star systems.

Today the word Modumedi has been severely corrupted by the ECC Church. It is now part of religious affiliation of the Church that dispossessed and miseducated our ancestors and continues to dispossess us of our natural resources and to miseducate us about reality. Our colonisation has a religious affiliation. Modumedi as a Christian convert and believer was a wrong translation during the overzealous Missionary times. In actuality, Modumedi is someone who traces their genesis to the intergalactic heavens. Modumedi is not someone who worships a White god (see my articles on The White God and White Dolls).

When the African ancients arrived from the intergalactic star systems, they landed in a place called Ntsoanatsatsi (massive lake where the horizon is the convergence of water and heavens) with lots of reeds by the shore and connected by a network of the caves.

They [African ancients] emerged from the caves through the reeds. This explains the sacredness of the reeds in terms of the virginity of the girl; the birth of the new baby and the naming ceremony of Seromo.

The Cosmography

While cosmogony is about the genesis, cosmography is about the star systems and the features of their internals as confirmed by the Sesotho axiom “Hobona Tosa le Madinyana a yona”. To see Jupitet along with her babies. The babies refer to the moons of Jupiter. These baby moons (Zulu, 2018b) are invisible to the naked eye and the telescope of Galileo. was not able to see these baby moons.

How were Basotho able to see the invisible moons of Jupiter? How the Basotho were able to see invisible stars which orbited the Sirius star system? As if this is not incredible enough, the Basotho also boast a domain knowledge of the animal cell in Biological science. They refer to the cell as Kgeha which also has two parts namely (1) Kge and (2) Ha wherein Kge is about the uptake of the spatial existence and the Ha is about the outside as in Mohatla (tail).

How did a people devoid of technological instruments like telescope and microscope know about invisible reality? We shall return to this mystery topic later.

The Indigenisation

Indigenisation is about the use of the star systems to enhance the survival experience in the terrestrial space. When the New Year begins in Phato (August), Basotho conduct sacred ceremonies like Mokete wa Lewa (The ceremony of strategic knowledge). Lewa is associated with the star system of Makgakga lierally meaning caves. Lewa also appears in the geomancic systems of divination and the mathematical game of Morabaraba (game of mathematical strategy).

How do they know about invisible stars of Tosamasiu? How do they know about invisible moons of Tosa? How do they know about invisible cells of blood histology in Biological Science? Moreover, they call themselves Badumedi (people of the stars). The brutal erasure of African knowledge has not succeeded in erasing this knowledge of the cosmos! Thokoza Makhosi! High Veneration To The Cosmos!

Thus, indigenisation is about enhancing the survival experience of Badumedi in the terrestrial space using the knowledge of the star systems as a template as confirmed by the star system of Selemela (pleades). They consult the Selema star system to learn about the state of the seasons and to plant the crops that are congruent with the heavens and their state of wellbeing. If Selemela declares a dry season, they grow drought resistant crops like Mabele (sorghum; millet).

The Basotho Calendar

The Basotho calendar begins in Phato (August) and ends in Phupu (July) with 13 months. The 13th month is the sixth month of Morula (between December and January).

The week of the Basotho calendat has six days as described in the book Sesotho Dictionary of Mathematics and shown below:

1. Mosupoloho/Lapele (Monday).
2. Labobedi (Tuesday).
3. Laboraro (Wednesday).
4. Labone (Thursday).
5. Labohlano (Friday).
6. Moqebelo (Saturday)

The 13 months of the Basotho calendat are shown below:

1. Phato – 1st month August 28 days.
2. Lwetse – 2nd month Septembert 28 days.
3. Mphalane – 3rd month Octobert 28 days.
4. Pudungwane – 4th month Novembert 28 days.
5. Tshitwe – 5th month December 28 days.
6. Morula – 6th month 28 days.
7. Pherekgong – 7th month January 28 days.
8. Hlakola – 8th month February 28 days.
9. Hlakubele – 9th month March 28 days.
10. Mmesa – 10th month April 28 days.
11. Motsheanong – 11th month May 28 days.
12. Phupjane 12th month June 28 days.
13. Phupu – 13th month July 29 days.

This Basotho calendar has a mathematical formula that uses a statistical method to track and to compensate for the the calendar effect and the truncation of time overtime. The formula harmonises the calendar with the lunar rhythm and the womb

rhythm.

Letsema

Letsema is an enterprising culture used by the African ancients to increase productivity; to trade together and to trade with other nations in far away lands such as Turkey (see Uluburun photo above this article) as an enterprising cultural block. This author participated in the Letsema agricultural activities at Matamong, in the Eastern Free State near Afrikaskorp.

The African ancients were not slaves; servants or colonies to anyone but were successful and independent traders and merchants in the Azanian Sea Mercantile System (colonially known as the Indian Ocean) who freely transacted and exchanged goods and services with anyone in the World.

They built massive seafaring ships using timber; special reeds and African bamboo with high tensile strength to move and receive goods in the import and export network system of the seaports of the World.

When the enrerprising African ancients sailed to distant lands like China; India: Yemen; Iran; Saudi Arabia or Turkey (among others) they were practicing Letsema. Today Letsema is more commonly known as Stokvel. The women are the most successful queens of Letsema. If Letsema is practiced, there is no need to work for Mlungu/Lekgowa (colonial descendant).

The enterprising culture of the African ancients was so impressive that the Chinese Emperror of the Ming Dynasty sent a massive fleet of seafaring ships under the command of the most trusted Zheng He with more than 60 ships and more than 27,000 sailors to visit African royal courts. A giraffe was transported to the Royal Emperror of China. A Chinese artist was commissioned to produce a painting of this giraffe (see image) in this article.

The Africans commanded a high sense of moral code at this period. The great African geographer and traveller Ibn Batuta (Grant, 2013) says this about African morality in his historical journal:

“One of the best things in these parts is, the regard they pay to justice; for, in this respect, the Sultan [ruler] regards neither little nor much. The safety too, is very great; so that the traveller may proceed alone among them without the least fear of thief or robber. Another of their good properties is, that when a merchant happens to die among them, they will make no effort to take possession of his property; but will allow the lawful successors to it to take it”.

Unity of the Moon and Womb;

The Basotho calendar is the coalescence of the periodicity of the moon and the womb. Both of these sacred systems have different periodicity namely (1) 29 days for the moon and 27 days for the womb. The average of the monthly periodicity is 28 days as shown in the months of the calendar.

Both the moon and the womb teach us to unite as one so that we can stay in resonance with the heavens and one another to vibrate as we were intended to vibrate unimpeded by the perturbations of the terrestrial space.

The qualities of unity and oneness of purpose with respect to human relations should entail (Lindenberg, 2006) the following:

“…cooperation, fairness, altruism, trustworthiness (i.e., refraining from breaking promises), and being considerate. They all refer to behavior that benefits others but is, at least at the moment it is performed, socially accepted as entailing some form of sacrifice…”.

These qualities are a prerequisite for success. The moon needs the womb. The womb needs the moon. Together they are one. This rare combination and higher science of duology is the most powerful force in the universe. Through this phenomenal duology of Pedi, the African family can rise from the ashes like the phenomenal Phoenix that rises and climbs to greater heights so that the African Motherland and the Diaspora can become free from miseducation; free from poverty; free from pestilence; free from conflict and free from immorality and to rise and to prosper through an African cultural revolution of Letsema (enterprising culture) for the survival benefit of the future generations.

The Implications

There are huge implications that ensue from this article for the thought leaders; community leaders; the policy makers and the lawmakers. We expatiate these implications below.

What are the implications of the unity of the moon and the womb?

The moon orbits the earth and reflects the sunlight. The moon is gravitationally tied and committed to the terrestrial orbit of the earth. Thus, the moon has found her own rhythm which resonates with her internal lunar clock.

The womb has its own internal biological clock which is linked to the internal clock of the distant moon. Through this efficacious linkage, the moon exerts a gentle gravitational pull on the womb during menstrual and pregnant phases. Other star systems like Tosa (Jupiter) also tug compassionately at the womb.

There is a default phase shift between the moon and the womb as a result of the different lengths of their orbital periods. The length of lunar period is not forced upon the womb and vice versa but they adjust and unite their phases so that the two wavelengths do not cancel each other out. Instead, the two wavelengths unite to increase the signal strength of their mutual amplitude as one in a beneficent state of coalescence.

This moon/womb coalescence teaches us to shed the grandiose self and its seperatist tendencies in order to coalesce in a selfless pursuit of unity to fix the untold damage that was done to our ancestors [our foremothers and forefathers] by the overzealous ECC (Euro-Christian Colonialism) and the White establishment. This fervent pursuit of selfless unity is undefined and unperturbed by the daily aggressions of the colonial descendants who are wrongly wired by the mamary glands of the White mother to treat us as expendable and undeserving.

Buttressed by the ancestral teachings of the enterprising culture of Letsema, the selfless unity is intended to restore our diginity as a people and to enhance our survival experience in the terrestrial space. In this way, the time-tested legend of the physico-intellectual prowess of the beloved Melanin will renew itself and climb to greater heights for the survival benefit of the future generations like the great Letlaka (African thunderbird vulture) that climbs to breathtaking altitudes and dizzying heights to reach and sometimes to exceed the cruising altitudes of commercial jets.

What are the implications of a calendar directed by the sacred rhythms of the moon and the womb?

The calendar is a mathematical tool that was used by the African ancients to organise time as a strategy to maximally increase our survival experience. Agrarian and pastoralist projects and activities required well formulated and organised segments of the timeline using the calendar; the obelisk and the merkhet to boost our sustenance through food production; reproduction; engineering and trading with others.

Even though we are presently stereotyped as being helpless as a result of “African time”, we are actually very time literate and conscious as confirmed by the engineering of temporal systems like calendar; sundial and star clocks from the erudite African ancestors who have gone before us so that we can vibrate as we were intended to vibrate unimpeded by the perturbations of the terrestrial space.

What are the implications of the enterprising culture of Letsema?

The enterprising culture of Letsema (now known as Stokvel) is the greatest thing since toasted bread! Letsema is about inculcating a sense of enterprising at a formative stage of a child. Letsema requires clannish group solidarity to trade together with others. Letsema necessitates a high sense of moral code; industrious work habits; attention to detail; social enterprise and the ethical sense of higher purpose.

Radio 702 FM Radio Podcast on Basotho Calendar

References

Grant, C. (2013). The Travels and Journals of Ibn Battuta, J. Arno & H. Grady, 2013.

Lindernberg, S. (2006). Prosocial Behavior, Solidarity, and Framing Processes.
DOI: 10.1007/0-387-28032-4_2.

Semenya, G. (2022). Dikgwedi / Izinyanga, https://www.dikgwediizinyangahq.com/ (accessed August 13, 2022).

Zulu, Z (2014a). The Sacred Knowledge of the Desert: African Philosophical Transcendence. Madisebo University College Press: Johannesburg.
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Zulumathabo-Zulu/e/B07NBS419H%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share ; (accessed April 10, 2022).

Zulu, Z (2014b). A Woman In The Bush. Madisebo University College Press: Johannesburg.

Zulu, Z. (2018). Cultural Hegemony and Nkukumuism. URL: https://zulumathabo.com/2018/03/12/cultural-hegemony-and-nkukumuism/ (accessed January 21, 2020).

Zulu, Z. (2018a). The Prayer of the Intercept. URL: https://zulumathabo.com/2022/03/21/the-prayer-of-the-intercept/ (accessed August 8, 2022).

Zulu, Z. (2018b). Africography: Metaphysics, Historiography and Decolonisation. URL: https://zulumathabo.com/2018/08/05/africography-metaphysics-historiography-and-decolonisation/ (accessed August 8, 2022).