Friday, September 9, 2011

Founding Ndebele King Mzilikazi honoured in USA!



One would have thought that it was somewhere in Swaziland or South Africa, but it was in Dallas Texas (USA) where people from all walks of life gathered to commemorate the late Ndebele King Mzilkazi.

The event that ignited and showcased the rich culture of the Ndebele people of Zimbabwe was graced by music, poet, art traditional dance, just to say the least. People from that country currently known as Zimbabwe came from all over United States just to experience this annual tradition. Its also worth mentioning that at the same time, there were about six other places celebrating either the same weekend or the next all around the world. Zimbabweans in London are celebrating this weekend, the same applies to those in South Africa and Bulawayo (Zimbabwe).

It is not a secret that the leadership of the late King Mzilikazi is respected among the nations to this day. He was a very inclusive leader who accommodated other nations. For a long time because of colonial influence, most people regarded their culture as evil and demonic. This was obviously the failure to distinguish and descern between the two. This was a double sword in both sides because most African people refused to convert to christianity if they were to discard their cultures.

To try and change this mentality would the biggest challenge, and it would certainly take a very long time. Zimbabwe being a nation that is mainly sympathetic to the Christian religion. It follows that most people associate African culture with evil spirits. That is why preachers are always clad in ties and jackets.

Its been many years since Independence, and it would be foolish to blame it on the missionaries any longer. We obviously cannot change everything that resembles colonialism at once, but we must accept the challenge to look at things differently seeing that the former was false,inaccurate and biased!

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