Letlhafula Cultural Festival

Once a year in May BotswanaCraft puts on a cultural fair called Letlhafula. By the time we heard about it and went to BotswanaCraft the tickets were sold out. When the clerk heard that we would not be in Botswana next year she said that sometimes people did not pick up their tickets and that she would call if that happened. We were lucky enough that the Friday afternoon before she called to tell us she had two tickets, so we were able to attend on Saturday, 26 May. We felt pretty lucky.

Thato Makame and Bonny Bonang Batshabile

The day of the fair we had a wedding to attend in the morning. Sister Rands played the organ for the wedding and gave the talk. The wedding was scheduled for 9:00 am. The bride arrived at 10:30 am and the wedding started at 10:40 am when the bride's mother finally arrived. After the ceremony the the bride and groom led the wedding party in a traditional African procession where they sing and dance. It was a lot of fun to watch. It was a nice wedding and everyone was happy. The couple will be sealed in the temple on Tuesday.

Immediately after the wedding we went to the Leflhafula Cultural Festival. It started at 9:00 am and went until 5:00 pm. We arrived just in time for the meal about noon. The meal was traditional Botswana food. It was cooked in about fifteen huge cast iron pots in a row over wood fires. We were amazed that they could cook things as thick as some of them were in big pots without it burning. At the first of the food line they pored warm water over your hands to rinse them. Though utinsels were provided many people chose to eat the traditional way with their fingers.

For appetizers there were roasted peanuts, raw peanuts in the shell, and a couple of hard berry-like seeds that we could not figure out how to eat. They were too hard to chew. There were three varieties of maize meal that had the consistency of mashed potatoes, three dishes of beans, cow intestines, bean leaves made from dried and boiled bean leaves, spinach (chard), two shredded beef dishes (one of which had tripe in it), braised beef, ox knee (cow leg joints), cow intestines, mopane worms, chicken feet, pumpkin, baked sweet potatoes, chicken wings and legs. A boiled corn dish served in a cup and watermelon were served after the meal. There were three traditional drinks - marula juice, mmilo juice (pronounced meelo), and ginger punch. We particularly liked the juice drinks. We also like ginger punch but theirs was stronger than we like.

We tried everything but the chicken feet and ox knee. We were glad we were not raised on this type of food but we enjoyed trying the dishes at least once. When we went through the lines we tried to ask for smaller portions but had difficulty communicating this so we had large plates of food.  Many of the dishes tasted very salty to us but many of the attendees added more salt.

The entertainment was traditional music and dancing. Most of the accompaniment was drums, shakers, a string instrument that was held over the shoulder and strummed or plucked while a stick was moved to change the pitch, and a thumb piano. A blind woman played traditional music on an electonic keyboard. A very popular musician played the guitar while holding it horizontally. Some of the older women danced to his music. A group of men played what looked like a thin metal tube but they could vary the pitch or each person had a different pitch and they blew at the appropriate time. How they made the tune we could not figure out. They danced in a circle while they played. There were a number of dance groups in traditional dance costumes.

The master of ceremonies entertained the audience with jokes and riddles but we could not understand them because they were all in Setswana. They gave away T-shirts for prizes to those who could answer the riddles. They also had a contest for the best traditionally dressed woman. The audience decided the winner and they quickly eliminated a woman in modern dress.

The whole event was very well done. We had a wonderful time and were glad we were able to attend.