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own families because with their newly acquired manhood, they were entitled
to marry.
Another traditional identity marker which is still prevalent in the Makgabeng
area is totemism, in which people use animals for their identity creation.
Totemism is a unique feature among Blacks in which clans and families pick
up animals to become their own symbols. Apparently, the peculiar features
of such animals appeal to those who identify with such animals. For
instance, people who choose a lion as their totem, aspire to the bravery of
that animal, and in their recitals, family songs and praise poems, they would
express and portray themselves as brave as lions. In the Makgabeng area,
the two principal polities, the Bahananwa and the Bakone, have a baboon
and a scaly-feathered flinch as their totems respectively. According to
available oral evidence, the Bahananwa chose baboon as their totem after
breaking away from the Bahurutse in the present day Botswana mainly
because of their desire to live in mountain strongholds, like the baboons –
hence they occupied the Blouberg mountains 621 . On the other hand, the
Bakone chose a scaly-feathered flinch as their totem, because of their
humble and down-to-earth nature, like that meek small bird 622 .
621 Interview, Headman Phukubje, Lehwaneng village, 17 September 2003.
622 Interview, Nkadi Ngwepe, Norma A village, 19 May 2003.
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