PROVERBS????

👀Hi! in order to help you acquire more knowledge on proverbs, i made this little video just for you!hope you learn something from it😎

PICK  A LIL BIT OF AURORA'S BRAIN!👇

Ever wondered where proverbs originated?

well, i think that people who made up proverbs were very wise opinion leaders from the past, who were very articulate and observant . Everyone ends up using the phrases  they make because they are well constructed and reflective of the society and general life. when people are able to identify with the wise sayings, they use them and accept them as wisdom and 

an observation which contains a general truth or lesson.

for example:

Motho naka lwa tholo, matswakabele a a matswapetswape, ga a itsiwe e se naga.

The person who came up with that proverb, must have observed the twists and curves on the Kudu horn and thought to themselves, 

"wow!it ain't a straight way finding a way about this horn! typical of human character."

 I believe people saw the similarity between the kudu horn and the complexity of human character. Therefore, they could well attest to it's truth and used it, hence it became a proverb! 

voila!

TIE THE KID

Pelo potsane e a golegwa

Pelo= the heart

Potsane= a kid (baby goat)

E a golegwa= is tied

Direct: the heart, a kid, is tied. 

Simply laid, this proverb means that, just as a young goat is domesticated or tamed, so can the heart. A baby goat is tied away from its mother to hold it back from leaving safety to danger. This is done to restrain it, keep it calm or control it. The same can go for our hearts! To successfully accomplish this, the disposition of the mind which binds passions is necessary.

Growing up in a rural village called Mmadinare, I’d often hear the elderly remark, “pelo potsane e a golegwa” time and again. As a child, I just took it that adult talk was too weird and complicated, I thought they were mentally incapacitated too, (oops). How could they refer the heart as to a baby goat (really?). So I wondered, Ignorant that there was something called a metaphor. I honestly could not find the relationship between the heart and the tying of a baby goat.

Speaking of baby goat tying, when I was a kid, my dad would take us to the cattle post during school vacations. There, we reared different kinds of livestock,  including a flock of goats. Each time the flock left for grazing, the baby goats or kids had to remain behind. Keeping them calm as they watched their does (a word for mother goats) leave wasn’t easy. Goats are naturally stubborn, and young ones being highly energetic, are a whole lot of trouble and hard to control. Determined to leave with the older goats, the kids would run about the kraal looking for gaps on the structure to escape. Under my father’s instruction, we had to get a hold of them and tie them to the sides of the wooden poles of the kraal. The baby goats would struggle, jump and kick to try to break off the rope. Although this might have seemed to be a little cruel, it is the African way of taming goats. Little does the young goat realize that setting it free, would only lead it to the great danger of landing between the long, sharp canines of predators, the talons of great eagles or the coils of a python. The baby goat will never understand the reason behind separating it from its mother, but the experienced keeper knows the danger lying ahead if he were to let it loose.

Similarly, the heart is full of many desires, some just too wild (lol). Imagine if your heart would go unrestrained! By all means, it would try to satisfy all of its natural desires, regardless of their nature, good or bad. Consequently, one is required to exercise the will power, logic, experience, common sense and some level of maturity in order to keep themselves from falling prey to dire penalties of going after those desires. In other words, we should not be impulsive, but decisive in action. With that being said, I urge you to tie up your baby goat in the best ways possible! Pelo potsane, e a golelgwa.

Exercise restraint after good judgement!

#THEEAURORASAYS

DOUBLE ACTION

 “SETSHWARWA KE NTSA-PEDI GA SE THATA”.

SE TSWHWARWA= what is held/grabbed/done

KE NTSA-PEDI= by two dogs

GA SE THATA= is not hard

Direct: what is held by two dogs is not hard

Meaning: the work that is done by two, is easily accomplished.

If there ever was an important number, I’d like to believe it to be “2”. The number two is so imperative that even our very being is designed around it. That is why I am able to type this post using my two hands, with two eyes on my face, a nose with two nostrils and two ears attached to my head. Humans even have two feet to give them balance when they stand or walk. And so, that is why two is such a significant powerful number. There are also two genders in this world, and also nature made it so that the best working relationships are between only two.

Have you ever tried chopping vegetables using one hand? Well, it’s not impossible, but I must say it’s not very easy. It also takes time. That is why the ancient Setswana proverb “setshwarwa ke ntsa-pedi ga se thata” makes sense even today, for the reason that when two share a task, the easier it gets. That is why back in the day before cutting boards, two girls would sit by the fire to cut meat into the pot. One holding the other end of the steak and one holding the other end, cutting.

As I ponder upon this proverb “setshwarwa ke ntsa-pedi”, I am compelled to think back on my primary school days. It was a time when my sister and I were desperately in need of new school bags, as the school term was beginning on a new year. Mother had said we didn’t need them and so she could not afford to get them for us. And so we knew we had to devise a plan to raise funds to buy the school bags by our own means. In her desperateness, my sister suggested that I sold some of the chickens my grandmother had given me. I didn’t mind, but the problem was, “who is going to buy the chickens?” It was already Sunday noon, we were under the pressure of time because shops would soon close and school was on the next day. Being the kids that we were, we very much dreaded the idea of showing up at school with our old school bags on a new year when other kids had something new. At that moment, our ideas had reached a dead end. That is when I suggested we pray about it. For the first time ever, my sister and I held hands to pray alone together. To our surprise, that very same day, actually, only a few hours after our fervent prayer sessions, a bunch of Indian men driving in expensive cars showed up at our house, looking for chickens to buy. They needed live chickens for a ceremony at the Mosque, and honestly, that was the most miraculous day of our lives.  From then on, I knew that united prayer works. From brainstorming, strategizing to raise funds and finally praying for a miracle together, I shall forever remember the power of two. Perhaps if anyone of us had tried to do it on their own, it wouldn’t have been easier or likely impossible. But because of us TWO, we proudly carried our new bags to school the next day.

So couple up, pair up to get the work at hand done, a twosome just might be the easy way out of a difficult task. Remember, “SETSHWARWA KE NTSA-PEDI GA SE THATA”.

TWISTED ARE THE WAYS OF MAN

MOTHO NAKA LWA THOLO. MATSWAKABELE A MATSWAPETSWAPE, GA A ITSIWE ESE NAGA.

Directly translated. This Setswana proverb is saying that, a person is like a Kudu’s horn which has twists and curves. You can never really understand a human being, as much as you can know your way through the mysterious forest.

Although the forest is strange, scary and mysterious, but once you take time to explore it and move about it, it’s unlikely that you may get lost in it. No matter how strange it may be, the good thing is that it never changes. It remains the same forest, with the same trees and hills that remain unmoved. Now the scariest thing is a human being. With a human being, it’s a different case. No amount of studying, spending time or interaction can guarantee one a mastery of a human being. Even as individuals, we can never really reach a point where we can claim to understand ourselves. Sometimes our reactions to life situations even shock us. We often find ourselves saying, “I never knew I was capable of this”. This is because people are ever changing creatures with complex minds.

 Marty Rubin said, “Another person is a door you can’t enter even by knocking”. Just like the twisted horn on a Kudu's head, no character is straightforward. Never think that you know or understand a person well enough. A piece of advice; save room for surprises. You cannot define individuals by a single character trait otherwise you risk making mistakes about their conduct as they react differently to different situations.

“A couple decided to commit suicide after an experience with a rough life. They decided to jump off a building. When they got to the top, they both counted to three. The man jumped, but the woman stayed. She watched him drop for about 8 seconds and then saw a parachute open.” Now the question is, who cheated who?

As much as we refer to life as complicated, humans are as well. In the scenario above, it is important to highlight the dilemma the two went through, no one can ever really understand the complexity of their thoughts at that moment and that makes it difficult to judge who was wrong or right. The more you think about it, the more the scenario will baffle your mind. If you think a human mind is a simple field, I recommend that you watch Tyler Perry’s Acrimony and share your line of thought…trust me, you will definitely say, “it’s complicated”.

Motho naka lwa tholo, matswakabele a matswapetswape. Ga a itsiwe e se naga. Remember, great expectations may lead to great disappointments. Certainty may give you big surprises. Overconfidence will drown you in the sea of reality. Never think you know a person enough.

A human being is more mysterious than a forest.

#TheeAuroraSays

DON'T CRY OVER SPILT MILK

 

SE ILENG, SE ABO SE ILENG, MOSELATLEDI KE LESILO

meaning and lessons drawn from this setswana proverb:

• What is gone is gone, chasing it is living a ghost like life. A ghost lives in the past. The life of a ghost is helpless and in vain.
• Longing for something that can never return is unhealthy.
• There is no use crying over spilt milk. Or is there?
• Free your heart,mind and soul of pain by letting go.

A LOVING HEART HAS NO BOUNDS

PELO E JA SERATI, SEBATLELWA GA E SE JE.

This is a Setswana proverb of which I will break down, word by word to translate it.

Pelo= heart

E ja= eats

Serati=love

Sebatelwa=offering

Ga e =does not

Se je= eat

Directly translated it says, “The heart eats what it wants, anything else offered it does not bite”. Psht …god knows the heart has no mouth to eat (LOL). But the general meaning of the proverb is that, a heart wants what it wants or that a loving heart knows no bounds. This Setswana proverb reminds me of Botswana’s very own African mourning collared dove. These are devoted loving birds that symbolize romance. When the male mourning collared dove is ready to mate, he performs a wooing ritual of bows and coos in front of the female he’s interested in. if she accepts the advances, the two become one if you know what I mean. The mourning collared doves mate for life. The couple has a bond so strong that can go beyond death for a season. The doves have been known to occasionally visit the place where their mate has died in remembrance of the love they shared. Interesting huh? From these birds, we learn the power of the heart that chooses, “pelo e ja serati.” Since this is the month of love, be sure to share it with that one person your heart feels strongly connected to. I don’t know who that person might be or what got you drawn to make them your choice. Perhaps it’s their charisma, their smile, their kindness, their touch, or the look in their eyes that speaks to your soul. Whatever it might be, be sure it’s what your heart chose, and stick to it. Happy Valentine’s Day, and remember,"sebatlelwa ga e se je."

#TheeAuroraSays