HERITAGE DAY

The history of the Venda started from the Mapungubwe kingdom (9th century) where king Shiriyadenga was the first king of venda and mapungubwe. As most of other peoples of South Africa we the venda (Vha-venda) came from the great lakes of central Africa.
The true Venda can be divide into 2 groups namely a western group descended from the followers of leader such as Mphephu, Senthumule and Kutama and an eastern group who regarded themselves as descendants of Lwamonde, Rambuda, Tshivashe and Mphapuli

I am a venda that falls on the western group descended from the follower of the leader of Ha-kutama. The is an important social division in venda society between commoners( Vhasiwana) and the children of chiefs and their descendants ( Vhakololo). My family belong in the commoners ( Vhasiwana) society, which we are not from the royal family.The venda rituals are many , the domba which is a per-marital initiation, the last one in the life of a venda girl or boy.

In venda culture we have the music and dance we do for different rituals, we have the python dance conducted at the female coming of age ceremony is usually where the chief choose a wife. And we have the tshikona is traditionally a male dance in which each player has a pipe made out of special indigenous type of bamboo.

Heritage day is a day that represent who i am, where i come from and where am i heading to as a person. It is important for me to celebrate heritage day because i get to know more about my culture. Heritage day give me the opportunity to know my roots, to know where my culture come from and where i am going specially as a youth and it helps me know my own language.

Heritage is important to me because it gives me an identity, it structure my character as an individual, can develop me personally in terms of becoming aware of my beliefs, acceptance and personal responsibilities.
I know my heritage and am very proud of it ( Ndi mu-venda wo tamaho)