Historical Fiction

Aman is a twenty nine year old Bantu weaver. She lives in a little village in Southern

Africa. She is married and has a four year old boy named Andikan. Her daily routine consists of

taking care of and teaching her son, cooking, cleaning, weaving, and religious rituals.

She is always up early and on most days even before the sun comes up to start her daily

work. She would make sure her garden is taken care of and that everything she needed to start

the day was all ready to go. After that she would wake her son up and get him ready for the day.

She would start talking to her son at a young age about their ancestors and the spirits. Their

ancestors played a very important role in their religion. Their ancestors would stay in spirit form

and would deserve respect and concern from the living. She would also teach him about a

supreme being who has the highest power, but is so complex that humans cant fully understand

it.

Once her son was taken care of and ready for the day she would start on her tasks of

weaving. She played a very important part in the village by providing baskets, blankets, and

other everyday items that the people needed. Her baskets are used for carrying supplies, food and

water, from place to place. And her blankets could be used for warmth or for decorations.

Sometimes she would weave stories into her blankets and tapestries. These stories would

sometimes have religious symbolism in them, accounts of their history, or aspects of their

everyday lives.

After her work was done she would teach her son more about their culture and history.

She teaches him about the need to appreciate their community, family, and their laws. Loyalty to

their clan was also an important lesson that he needed to learn early on in life. Members of their
family and extended family (both the living and the dead) were at the basis of their beliefs and

they had strong obligations to help each other in any way possible.

She would also teach him about music. Dancing and singing was a part of their everyday

routine. Sometimes their songs would have religious connotation. But most of their songs

recounted past experiences such as adventures, war, love, hunting, and other aspects of their

lives.

Once her son was asleep for the night she would then prepare for what needed to be done

for the next day. After all her work was done and her family was safe and asleep, she could

finally get to sleep herself. Then she would wake up and do it all over again the next day.