Khweno Ca

A song about young people, where they romanticize relationships and is compared to a leaf in the garden. Here, a girl is compared to that of a banana leaf in the garden. It talks about how a banana leaf is wrapped and unfurled without any scratch and hole in it. A girl is then considered and compared to as such that the girl is ‘pure’, just like how the new leaves stem up or unravel to its full bloom. Leaves are then plucked to perform rites and rituals for a fruitful harvest, whereby the leaves are hung on the wall and pray that the leaves will not wither or not fit for rituals.

In Tenyidie, ‘tekhwe’ is an inedible leaf similar to that of the banana plant/tree. A leaf used for rituals to wrap up uncooked rice and to drink wine from it wrapped in the form of a cup. But in English, tekhwe, the nearest possible translation and relevance is to that of a banana leaves. As a ritual, they hang the banana leaves on the wall for a fruitful/abundant harvest of rice, fruits, vegetables). The banana leaf is used as a symbol and also compared the girl to that of a ‘leaf’ whereby the leaf is also symbolically used to perform rituals for a bountiful harvest. As a result, a good harvest is considered a form of a ‘dowry’ for the girl and is in a better position to propose the girl for her hand in marriage.