BACK TO THE PHAROHS: Senet - Senet is a racing board game from ancient Egypt. This game board is based on boards similar to ones found in the tombs of Egyptian kings. The movement of the pieces represent the wanderings of the souls in the Egyptian underworld. Hieroglyphics describe the wandering found in the game and replicate those found on a 3000 year old papyrus. Some researchers claim Senet to be a predecessor to Backgammon. 2 players.
Moraba Moraba and Diketo
Games have been played for thousands of years in every part of the world. Indigenous Africans also devised their own games, mostly by digging holes in the ground and using pebbles.
They call the holes "Kraals" and the pebbles "cows"
Why, you may ask? The wealth of an African man was - and often still is measured by the number of cattle he owns. The cow is therefore a very valuable commodity for the Africans. It is the equivalent of money in the westernised world.
The "Kraal" is the homestead of the African village. It consists of seveal round huts, usally made of grass or mud huts, which are placed in a circle. The kingskraal obviously belonged to the head of the villages.
In this games pack, we introduce you to two African Games: Moraba-raba and Diketo.
Traditional games of Africa available in pine, kiaat and cherry, with semi-precious stones as playing tokens. Plastic boards available soon.
It was a scene almost tailor-made to gladden the hearts of President Mbeki and all of those who believe that the African Renaissance really is at hand.
Burly boere with flowing old-style beards, and tannies with equally big hair, bare-chested izintombi in tiny grass skirts, Basotho men and women in garish traditional blankets.
This was an unprecedented gathering of the nation, in a tiny Free State hamlet. The occasion was the official launch of something called the South African Indigenous Games.
As they watched, many of the elderly spectators doubtless experienced flashbacks to times when they too played those games in township streets and villages.
Portly Ngconde Balfour jumped up and down in his VIP seat, exhorting young participants to get stuck into each other as they competed at games which, like so much of this country's heritage, face extinction.
The faithful came to play and watch seven traditional games such as dibeke , morabaraba and kho-kho .
More than 2 000 people braved winding uphill roads and tracks to watch as their childhood games were launched as national sports at the Basotho Cultural Village.
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Africa History
African Famous Games
