Bvumavaranda B. Technocrat MuRozvi on Karanga/Shona Granaries
Introduction: My friend B. Technocrat has started posting factoids of the day on Facebook. And these are very informative pieces of writing on Karanga/Shona history and culture, offering the kind of information I sometimes struggle to locate or remember when working on a story or poem, forgotten practices which are in the danger of dying with time altogether. In the interest of supporting cultural and historical preservation (and all other forms of preservations of a people's indegenous way of life), I hereby join B. Technocrat MuRozvi by publishing this piece with his permission. Enjoy!
In the village, grain is stored in matura, the storage bins in a hozi. These granaries, hozi or tsapi, may appear simple but that apparent simplicity is misleading. If constructed within the homestead, mumusha/mumozi/mumose, four boulders... of roughly 1 meter in height are used as stilts to support a platform of poles. It is on this platform, gudzururu, that the hozi is constructed.
A hozi is a four-sided building with an antechamber and just after this chamber are storage compartments, matura. Each dura is used to store a different grain. To each dura is a small rectangular opening for the delivery of grain into the bin or retrieval of said grain.
Two of the biggest threats to the shelf life of the stored grain are; (i) moisture from the ground, murove, and: (ii) termites. The architecture of hozi is actually designed as an effective countermeasure to these two threats.
Termites, muchenje, have to make their way up the four boulders. As they do that, the termites build mud canopies. If not checked, muchenje will attack the timber used to construct hozi. Although the timber wall is covered in special clay called rondo or chinamwa, which is robust enough to protect the timber against wood-attacking weevils, chinamwa cannot stop muchenje from attacking the timber. Through regular inspection of the four rock stilts and the destruction of muchenje mud canopies, the structure of hozi is maintained.
Secondly, the boulders and the gudzururu platform means that the storage bins in hozi are not in direct contact with the ground/surface. That way, moisture from the ground will not reach the stored grain. Once wet, the stored grain is vulnerable to fungal attack and premature germination thereby leading to spoilage and a shortened storage life.
Moreover, gudzururu, the gap between the ground and the platform, resembles a wind tunnel. Factually, it is a wind tunnel. As a result of the natural and energy-free ventilation afforded by this design, the stored grain is kept dry.
In some instance where the granaries are built away from the homestead where regular or daily inspection for termite attack is not possible, hozi are constructed paruware, the natural rock outcrop with a roughly flat top resembling a miniature version of the Table Mountain. Ruware serves the same dual purpose as stated above, that is; keeping termites and moisture from the grain and the granaries.
How ancient is this technology? The British Museum has a model of hozi retrieved/looted from the desecrated grave of an ancient “Egyptian” buried around 2200 BC. That was 4213 years ago. If you have ever visited or lived in a village in rural Zimbabwe and grandma asked you to go and get some groundnuts for making peanut butter, the model of the 2200 BC hozi will remind you of grandma’s granary. Simply put, it is grandma’s hozi.
There is no need to make up anything. We are simply pointing out self-connecting dots hidden before our own eyes.
Ours is a living history that defies the ravages of time and the poisoned pens of the “civilized” detractors. Let us frequently take our children kumamisha/kumidzi/ku-roots so they cannot only see their living ancient history but also live like their forebears did since antiquity.
I point this out because I do not like the way my history has been butchered much to my detriments, and the late Chinua Achebe said that if we do not like what is beng said about us, it is upon us to write our history.
In the spirit of Sage Chinua Achebe’s admonition and in his memorium, that is my Zimbabwean/African Factoid of The Day, I’m Bvumavaranda B. Technocrat MuRozvi.
http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/aes/p/painted_wooden_model_of_a_gran.aspx
A hozi is a four-sided building with an antechamber and just after this chamber are storage compartments, matura. Each dura is used to store a different grain. To each dura is a small rectangular opening for the delivery of grain into the bin or retrieval of said grain.
Two of the biggest threats to the shelf life of the stored grain are; (i) moisture from the ground, murove, and: (ii) termites. The architecture of hozi is actually designed as an effective countermeasure to these two threats.
Termites, muchenje, have to make their way up the four boulders. As they do that, the termites build mud canopies. If not checked, muchenje will attack the timber used to construct hozi. Although the timber wall is covered in special clay called rondo or chinamwa, which is robust enough to protect the timber against wood-attacking weevils, chinamwa cannot stop muchenje from attacking the timber. Through regular inspection of the four rock stilts and the destruction of muchenje mud canopies, the structure of hozi is maintained.
Secondly, the boulders and the gudzururu platform means that the storage bins in hozi are not in direct contact with the ground/surface. That way, moisture from the ground will not reach the stored grain. Once wet, the stored grain is vulnerable to fungal attack and premature germination thereby leading to spoilage and a shortened storage life.
Moreover, gudzururu, the gap between the ground and the platform, resembles a wind tunnel. Factually, it is a wind tunnel. As a result of the natural and energy-free ventilation afforded by this design, the stored grain is kept dry.
In some instance where the granaries are built away from the homestead where regular or daily inspection for termite attack is not possible, hozi are constructed paruware, the natural rock outcrop with a roughly flat top resembling a miniature version of the Table Mountain. Ruware serves the same dual purpose as stated above, that is; keeping termites and moisture from the grain and the granaries.
How ancient is this technology? The British Museum has a model of hozi retrieved/looted from the desecrated grave of an ancient “Egyptian” buried around 2200 BC. That was 4213 years ago. If you have ever visited or lived in a village in rural Zimbabwe and grandma asked you to go and get some groundnuts for making peanut butter, the model of the 2200 BC hozi will remind you of grandma’s granary. Simply put, it is grandma’s hozi.
There is no need to make up anything. We are simply pointing out self-connecting dots hidden before our own eyes.
Ours is a living history that defies the ravages of time and the poisoned pens of the “civilized” detractors. Let us frequently take our children kumamisha/kumidzi/ku-roots so they cannot only see their living ancient history but also live like their forebears did since antiquity.
I point this out because I do not like the way my history has been butchered much to my detriments, and the late Chinua Achebe said that if we do not like what is beng said about us, it is upon us to write our history.
In the spirit of Sage Chinua Achebe’s admonition and in his memorium, that is my Zimbabwean/African Factoid of The Day, I’m Bvumavaranda B. Technocrat MuRozvi.
http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/aes/p/painted_wooden_model_of_a_gran.aspx
Comments