© 2023 Dr Margaret Sheppard
Mogoga -
Thokolo ya metsi a pula
Meaning -
Or
A ye co co co
A ye Tshopotshopo
Pula, Pula
These means something like “ Rain do come and cleanse, waters of the rain do come and give us heavy showers to cleanse us. “ Tshopotshopo” is the type of rain that falls in heavy showers (the word makes the sound of heavy rain drops falling). This type soaks into the ground baked hard by the dry season, softening it for ploughing and enabling good germination and growth of crops.
Dikgafela Songs
These are examples of some of the special Dikgafela Songs that are sung during these celebrations. They are believed to bring the rain for the harvest season. Some examples can be heard on the You Tube link that is shown below.
Another Dikgafela song they sing is:
Pula e telele
Pula e tsara e tshwanyona
Ngwana ya metse
Ke le ke tla
Pulawe!
Everlasting Rain
Rain that is black and greyish black
Child (i.e. Rain) of the water
Do flow
O Rain!
Another song translates roughly as: “The cattle of the black girl are going and they are going to look for rain, everlasting rain. The mother of rain do flow with water .Do they have a polished girl? We are looking for everlasting happiness.”
This song is very interesting because it is very old , and it refers to using black children to make rain medicine. People then believed that if very black children were killed in the hills, this would bring the rain as the rain was noted to usually approach from the hills which would just before the rain came, turn black -
However this song is also sung during weddings when the women from the groom’s family go to “look for a wife”. In this case the “everlasting happiness” refers to the prospective wife whereas at Dikgafela it refers to the rain.
To hear Dikgafela Songs use You Tube link below : https://youtu.be/IIPyz_CUdpI