the richtersveld cultural and botanical landscape - SAHRA

Richtersveld Cultural and Botanical Landscape World Heritage Site Nomination 51
The Nama also have a strong crafts tradition of which hut building and mat making
is only a part. Known in the past for their leather clothing and other articles, leather
work is one area in which they still manufacture artefacts. Others include textile
printing which uses motifs taken from rock art and the environment. Traditional
clothing, still worn by women on festive occasion consists of patchwork which is
believed to have developed from the tradition of sewing together pieces of leather
to create the karos, the large leather cloak of past times.
Tanie Sana and Oom Willem who together continue the transhumance lifestyle
Music and dance forms of the Nama, first mentioned by 17 th Century Dutch East
India Company (VOC) expeditions to Namaqualand (the northwestern region of
South Africa), are also undergoing a renaissance. Contemporary folk music played
on modern instruments, principally acoustic guitar and harmonica, and usually sung
in Afrikaans, still reflects the rhythm and tone of the past when Nama dancers did a
similar shuffle to what is today called the ‘stapdans’ to the tune of instruments which
are believed to have been similar to the didgeridoo or Andean pipes. These
traditions are also tied to the land and reflect ancient ways of pre-Christian worship.
Their perpetuation depends upon the continuation of the people’s way of life and
continued movement with the seasons and in the period since South African
democracy in 1994 both music and dance have seen an upsurge in practice and
are now encouraged in schools. The Richtersveld Heritage Project funded by