Kara Horstmann

HIST 134

A Day in the Life of a Bantu Male

My name is Andikan, and I am a Bantu male that lives in central Natal, but I came from

West Africa. I am a young yet highly skilled craftsman. I currently do not have much authority,

but once I am older, I will have more authority, I am just too young right now. The elders are

looked up to in our village, and that is who we listen to. From the day I was born, I was taught to

appreciate my family and also my community.

I decided to migrate to central Natal because that is where my family was relocating to.

We all decided to migrate due to agriculture and ironworking reasons. Moving to central Natal

helped me learn a specialized trade and got me the job that I have today. We were able to get

where we are because we had many iron tools and weapons. When we continued to migrate, our

people got better at everything we did. I witnessed a huge improvement with the gardeners.

I believe that the dead continues to influence the lives of people that are alive. One day

when I was angry at someone, I felt the presence of my ancestor help calm me down and not be

so angry. Most of the spirits that I have felt have been kind, but a few have been dangerous.

For the most part, I loved my job. Sculpting is my passion. I was lucky enough to be able

to make sculptors from carved wood, soapstone, and ivory. My personal favorite was actually

wood because I felt that I could get more creative with wood than the other items. Most of my

sculptures ended up being used as decorations, and a couple has been used to record historical

events. Some of my pieces on top of being used as decorations included some religious symbols

in them.
 After a long day at work, I loved to wind down and listen to music, African music to be

exact. The rhythm of the drums was so good that I had to get up and dance every time. I would

listen to music and dance every single day. It was a lot of fun because multiple people would join

in and start clapping their hands. Some of the songs played would relate to hunting or planting,

but my personal favorite was when they would play the adventures of famous heroes. The music

was really exciting.

At the end of the day, after working and dancing, I would eat my final meal before

going to bed. Typically my last meal was cooked vegetables, fish with milk to drink. I enjoyed

dinner because I usually eat maize, which is a porridge that the Bantu are known for. Don’t get

me wrong, I love the porridge, but dinner is a nice change. After dinner, I would then go lie

down in my hut and fall asleep.

References

"Ancient Civilizations in Africa, 3500 B.C.-500 B.C." DISCovering World History. Detroit :
Gale, 2003. Student Resources in Context. Web. 2 July 2016.
“About the Bantu Tribe.” The Bantu Tribe, thebantutribe.weebly.com/about-the-bantu-
tribe.html.