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The post Plunge deep into African culture at bedtime. appeared first on Moontales Publishing UK Ltd..
These days educating children about other cultures is left to the school teachers, and unfortunately due to the mountains of red tape of public schooling, children, or young adults, can come out of the other side of their schooling with little or no knowledge of the world outside of their own little bubble. How do we combat this problem? The best solution is to teach children from a young age about the importance and fascination of other cultures, and what better way to do this than at bedtime?
If you’ve ever needed any story ideas for your kids, then you’ve come to the right place. Reading it to themselves, or listening to it at bedtime, your children will love hearing about adventures that take place in the mesmerising land of Africa. While the most popular story books might feature fairy tales and even lessons for children to learn, many of these ideas come from life within the Western culture to which children are already accustomed.
Books such as The Sky Party feature folktales for children that draw heavily on African culture and who better to teach children about African folktales than author Bosede Docemo? Bose, as she is known, grew up in West Africa and is able to bring her own personal experience to her writing. Having spent her early years surrounded by fascinating and influential African folktales, Bose found her passion in creating funny stories for kids which, while entertaining, also educate children.
The ideal story for bedtime, teach your children about African culture without them even realising it, The Sky Party will not only make your child laugh and cry, but they will be mesmerised by the pure innovation of the story, as well as the fantastic illustrations! Children’s folktales really are the ideal way to immerse yourself, both adult and child, in the rich culture of Africa.
Once you start reading it will become clear to you that there is a lot to learn from African folktales and thus your pre-bed story time will be something that you and your child both look forward to! Short bedtime stories that teach children are sometimes hard to come by, but thanks to our fantastic author, your children will find these folktales exciting and interesting and they will learn without even knowing it. Available in both hard cover and eBook format, The Sky Party, along with the other books in the series, is available through Amazon.
So celebrate bedtime with world folktales, and you might even find that your kids are begging to go to bed early.
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The post Exposing Children to Books From Other Cultures appeared first on Moontales Publishing UK Ltd..
Some children are avid readers, burning through books both at school and at home. But even the biggest book-loving kids are often exposed only to books from within their own culture and perhaps from some relatively similar cultures like USA.
There are a number of reasons that it might be a good idea to encourage children to read books from other cultures, whether translated children’s literature from other European countries, folktales from the many countries of Africa, or traditional stories from Asian nations.
Broader Cultural Awareness: Reading literature from other cultures will help to increase a child’s understanding of that culture. This will give them a much broader sense of cultural awareness and greater sense of the different types of people they are likely to meet in the world. Exposing children to stories from other cultures such as African folktales will encourage tolerance and inclusiveness, and help them get on well with all kinds of people from a range of backgrounds in the future. It will also help them to develop an idea of what other cultures are like and what traditions they have, which could be useful if they choose to travel in the future, do business with people from other cultures, or simply meet some foreign friends.
Fire Their Imaginations: Reading is well-recognised as a way to fire a child’s imagination and encourage them to be creative. However, if you only expose a child to literature from a particular culture, this may have a limiting effect. Encouraging children to read books from other cultures will open them up to a whole new world of themes and ideas, and a much wider range of literary traditions, genres and styles. The result is a much broader variety of stimuli for their imaginations. If children want to exercise their creativity and come up with their own ideas, they will have a much bigger selection of concepts and influences to draw from.
Fascinating Literature: Another, much simpler reason to encourage children to read books, stories and literature from other cultures is simply that it provides a huge pool of fascinating and entertaining tales to draw from. For most children, this massive pool remains completely untapped. Sources of literature such as African folktales and other traditional tales from around the world are rich varied, well-told and have often been refined over centuries. Any child who loves reading will find plenty of fine literature among the stories of other cultures and are unlikely to enjoy them any less because they come from further afield than the books they usually read. In fact, they may well enjoy reading books from other cultures more. When an avid reader bookworm has read a huge range of English and American literature by the time they hit their teenage years, expanding their reading list into other cultures might be one of the few ways to find something new, exciting, and truly different from anything they have read before.
Why don’t you visit www.moontalespublishing.co.uk to find out more.
The post Exposing Children to Books From Other Cultures appeared first on Moontales Publishing UK Ltd..
The post WHY NAMING CEREMONIES ARE CELEBRATED IN AFRICA appeared first on Moontales Publishing UK Ltd..
Africans welcome the birth of a new child with a lot of relish and expectations. Relish because they see the child as a good gift from their creator and expectations because the child presents a source of hope for a new and better generation that would ensure continuity of a lineage. Except in very rare cases of extreme poverty or family dysfunction, the arrival of the new being is celebrated within the household and even in the community.
In communal settings, the child does not only belong in its family, it belongs to the general community such that the entire community is infused with excitement because of the new arrival.
Africans thrive on relationships and therefore love to celebrate with one another, which is another reason why they have ceremonies for different events, particularly those signifying a rite of passage. Giving names to children is a rite of passage which is celebrated at different levels of pomp and pageantry based on the economic status of the parents where friends and family members come together to witness the rite.
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The post The Greeting Culture in Africa. appeared first on Moontales Publishing UK Ltd..
Many African countries have their own, unique traditions surrounding the act of greeting. A lot of countries in Africa have a friendly and unhurried approach to social interactions, and that taking the time for a polite, formal greeting that properly follows the local customs is expected. Whether you are doing business in Africa or just taking a holiday there, understanding the various types of greeting culture in Africa will be essential to properly building relationships.
Handshakes : Africa is a large continent made up of many different countries. As such, there are many different types of greeting culture in Africa, but most of these involve handshakes, kneeling down or prostrating. The handshakes are similar to the type of handshakes that Westerners will be familiar with, though sometimes a little longer- lasting. However there are some local types of greeting culture in Africa that involve a slightly different handshake. For example, in Nigeria, many men may place their left hand on the other person’s shoulder while shaking hands or prostrate to an older person and women may kneel down for an older person as a sign of respect. When greeting a woman in Africa, it is best to wait and see if she extends her hand.
Social Status: In many African greeting cultures, it is important to afford people a degree of respect while greeting them. For example, you will usually be expected to give respect to those older than you. In Nigeria, bowing your head in deference to elders is expected. Local authority figures are another example.
However, there are times when the unique nature of certain greeting cultures in Africa will override ideas of status. For example, in Ghana, when greeting multiple people, you will always work from the right to the left. this is because your hand will always be facing the correct way.
While other African greeting cultures may require you to greet the most socially important or oldest people first, in Ghana you proceed from the right to the left regardless of each person’s status. Many African greeting cultures also require you to initiate the greeting when entering a room. This means that you will not wait for the other person to greet you even if they are somebody who requires respect or younger to you.
Spoken Greetings: There are many types of greeting culture in Africa, but in many of them the handshakes will usually be accompanied by an exchange of pleasantries, sometimes questions about the person’s health an family are also asked. It may be worth learning to conduct these pleasantries in the local language. However, bear in mind that many countries in Africa are home to people from a number of different tribes and, as such, there may be more than one language. For example Zambia has six main languages. Nigeria has about 527 languages, Egypt has about 12 and south Africa has 11 official languages.
Giving Gifts: In some African greeting cultures, such as Nigeria, and South Africa, if you are visiting somebody’s home it is polite to have a small gift ready to present when greeting them. In many Africa countries gifts should be given with the right hand or both hands but never the left hand.
Generally in all African countries, the act of greeting each other is very important.
The post The Greeting Culture in Africa. appeared first on Moontales Publishing UK Ltd..
The post Traditional Marriage Ceremonies in Africa (2) appeared first on Moontales Publishing UK Ltd..
It is usually the same customary marriage rites that, take place amongst various tribes in Ghana during their traditional weddings.
For instance, the Ashanti people of Ghana marriage ceremony starts with the ‘’knocking’’ (kookoo ko) by the groom, his father and some other members of the family. It is during the knocking that the marriage intentions will be known. The knocking ceremony like that of the Yoruba’s (introduction) usually takes place weeks before the main marriage ceremony.
The concept of (kookoo ko) is derived from the Ghanaian tradition of knocking at the entrance of a house before entering as a guest. For the knocking ceremony, the groom’s family will bring along two bottles of alcoholic drinks, kolanuts and some money. The drinks and the kolanuts are used to pour libation; a traditional form of prayer to the ancestral spirits and God.
During the presentation of the drinks, a designated spokesman from the groom’s family will ask the bride’s family for permission to enter the house. If the drinks are accepted, it means that permission has been granted, thus allowing the visitors entry and permission to make their intentions known.
The spokesperson will then explain in the most lyrical language, that the groom, has seen a “beautiful flower” in the house of the bride’s family and that he desires to “pluck”, not “steal”, from its keeper, hence they are here to ask for the bride’s hand in marriage and inquire about what is required in order to make that flower his.
Once this is done, the date for the traditional marriage will be selected and a list of all the required items will be given. On the set date the groom and his family, along with their guests must show up early at the bride’s house. The oldest members from both families begin the marriage ceremony with a prayer and further introductions. The groom’s family begins by presenting the “Bride Price” (dowry) and all other items on the list one by one. At each stage, the items are checked to make sure everything asked on the list is presented.
Negotiation is possible if the groom’s family feels too much is being asked of them. The groom must not speak in all of these proceedings, as all the speaking and negotiation is done on his behalf by the spokesperson from his family.
Once everything has been presented and accepted by the bride’s family, the bride would then be brought into the gathering. Sometimes decoys are used to tease the groom”, so he is then asked to verify if it is his bride. After confirming his bride, she is asked three times by her father if she agrees to marry he groom. She is asked if they should accept the dowry and the gifts from them. If she agrees, then the groom will slide the ring on her fingers and kiss and hug her.
An older member of the groom’s family will then present a religious book to the couple as a symbol of how important, religion should be in their married life. Prayers are then said and blessings given, the married couple are congratulated and given some marriage advice by the oldest members of the family.
Once all of this is done, there is a huge celebration, food and drinks are served and they all dance to traditional music.
The post Traditional Marriage Ceremonies in Africa (2) appeared first on Moontales Publishing UK Ltd..
The post Traditional Marriage Ceremonies in Africa. appeared first on Moontales Publishing UK Ltd..
Traditional marriage ceremonies in Africa are always full of fun, vibrant colours, entertainment and of course lots of food!
In Africa, it is generally believed that marriage involves, the entire family of the intending couple. It is not just two people getting married, that is why it is always a big and highly celebrated occasion.
Using the Yoruba people of Nigeria as an example; their traditional wedding is divided into two events.
The first is known as monmi-monho (meaning “introduction”). This is the point when the groom’s family will be officially introduced to the bride’s family. This is usually a low-key event compared to the wedding, yet it is very significant. During this event, the date for the wedding will be chosen and jointly agreed by both families.
Also during the “Introduction” the bride’s family will give a list of traditional items expected to be brought to the traditional wedding by the other family.
An example of this would be:
•2 Different Pairs of Shoes and Bags.
•2 Head Scarfs (Gele) of high quality.
•1 Traditional Cloth (Aso-Oke).
•4 Other Assorted Clothes.
•42 pcs of Obi (Kola nut).
•42 pcs of Orogbo (Bitter kola).
•42 pcs of Atare (Alligator pepper).
•1 Decanter of Pure Honey.
•1 Big Dish of Aadun (peppered Corn meal).
•42 pcs of Big Eja Osan (Dry fish).
•42 Tubers of Big Yam.
Since the introduction ceremony is only a preview, very few selected members of both families are expected to be in attendance.
Fast forward to the main traditional wedding event.
This entire event usually plays out like one well-rehearsed sitcom. There will be two main narrators representing both families. “Alaga Ijoko” (sitting MC for the bride’s family) and “Alaga Iduro” (standing MC) for the groom’s family. Between them, these two main characters anchor the whole wedding event with grace. They throw banters, exchange jokes and ensure that everyone has a hilarious time
.
There are steps to be followed, and major highlights of the whole event include:
1.The Arrival of the groom’s family. This signals the start of the ceremony. They are expected to keep to the time set: failure to do so will result in a “fine” that must be paid. Leading the groom’s group will be their spokesperson (Alaga Iduro), who will announce their presence with songs and traditional drums. They will dance into the premises and go straight to greet the already waiting bride’s family. Their women will kneel down while their men prostrate. Then they can take their seats.
2.The Proposal and Acceptance: Once seated, the business of the day kicks into full gear. An elaborate “proposal letter” will be accepted from the grooms father and replied to by the bride’s family, and officially giving their consent as a family to the union.
3.Meeting the Groom: Once the consent is given, the groom is ushered in first. He will be led in dancing to songs by ‘Alaga Iduro’ and accompanied by all his friends. He will then prostrate to greet his in-law.
4.Bringing in the Bride: Once the groom is greeted and shown his seat, the bride will then be brought in, accompanied by her friends under a veil to avoid the groom seeing her. She will then kneel in-front of both families for prayers and blessings. Once this is done, she would then be taken to where her husband is sitting. He will be asked to remove her veil and, to show that she accepts his proposal.
5 Bling! After this, she will be asked to pick out something she wants from the gifts brought by the groom’s family. A good wife to be is expected to pick her religious package (according to her religion) to which her engagement ring is attached. The groom then puts the ring on her finger.
6 Traditionally, Africans believe in the payment of bride price (dowry) and this is when envelopes come out. Envelopes for the bride’s family will be presented.
Symbolically, the bride’s family will return the envelopes that contains the bride price, stating that their daughter is not for sale!
7.Once this is done, the engagement cake (if available) will be cut by the couple, and pictures are taken for posterity. And the ceremony is finally brought to an end and the proper party starts with lots of food and drinks!
Next time you will read about the Ghanaian traditional marriage ceremony.
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The post The African Family. appeared first on Moontales Publishing UK Ltd..
One of the most colourful and exciting cultural values of African society all over the world is the unique family structure. A true African family is modelled around the concept of communalism and togetherness. That is, we live for each other in a closely-related community. This family is called an extended family. A family that consists of not only the father, mother and children, but relatives, distant or close, all living together in the same house or compound.
In Africa, it’s not just you and your nuclear family set-up; every blood related members of the same family group live in close proximity of each other and in some cases, under the same roof. In Africa, under the extended family system, we all live for each other. Your things belongs to others. There is no clear-cut difference or sense of real ownership. What you own belongs to everyone, this way Africans find it easy to live with contentment and maximise their resources.
Also there is a great sense of belonging in African extended family structure. From the first time you draw your first breath, you instantly become a member of the whole extension. An adopted child of everyone. Your biological parents are not your only provider. Love, attention, and care are passed around.
Imagine the level of security, support and protection that such a child will receive. A child relates, not with strangers but with their family. He /she learns quickly more about his immediate environment, his cultural values, virtues, norms and acceptable way of life even before he began schooling.
In Africa, expect your grannies, uncles, aunties and other siblings to discipline and guide you. But be rest assured that it all comes from a genuine heart, flowing with love and attention. An African child that is brought up in an extended family setting radiates love, because she knows real love is.
If you want to know more about Africa, why don’t you pay us a visit at www.moontalespublishing.co.uk?
The post The African Family. appeared first on Moontales Publishing UK Ltd..
The post In Africa. appeared first on Moontales Publishing UK Ltd..
In Africa, it is believed that the future and cultural awareness of every society lies in its stories. They are passed over to the younger generation in an attempt to leave an enduring legacy. Such stories could be referred to as folktales, fables, or myths; and their purpose is clearly defined: to introduce the younger generation into the acceptable ways of life, norms, customs and values of the society.
These are a few roles that are crucial in a folktale setting:
Children are easier to teach in their younger years. Older Africans figured that there is no better time to ingrain in children, the morals of the society, than when they are willing and ready to listen. Hence the phrase, “Catch them young”. At almost every moon-lighted night in a traditional African setting, children will gather around the oldest person (grandfather in most cases) and scores of morally rich, culturally vibrant stories will be told to them; much to the gleeful delight of the audience (the children). But entertainment aside, the elders are careful to weave into their stories, some important and basic lessons, which they believe will help to teach them moral lessons.
African folktales are loaded with moral lessons that appeal to children’s sense of justice. In almost all of these stories, are character casts that include villains and heroes. Generally, the story will always have a happy-ending for heroes and a sad turn-of events for the bad ones. Imagine the impact of such stories in the fresh mind of a child! Folktales therefore present wonderful opportunities for the African child to see; first-hand, the rewards of good deeds and dire consequences of the opposite. Folktales or myths are also used in Africa to help instil into children, a communal, me-and-you way of life. Apart from the content of these stories (which always rewards good behaviour in the society), the settings of these stories are also crucial. Imagine the gathering of recently eaten children, shirts off (or with wrappers), in cluster circles, leaning on each other, waiting for the old man to clear his throat and dish out another delicious tale. This is always the highlight of any child’s day. They always look forward to it. “We can’t wait to hear today’s version of the tortoise adventures in the land of the mermaids!”
Importantly though, these stories will also help to build and enhance their imagination and curiosity.
Lastly, everyone needs a hero, especially a growing, highly influence-able child. The problem with that is, if no strong/positive choice is given, the child is left alone to choose for themselves. The older generation know this, and in these myths and folktales, the African child is presented with heroes that have strong moral values. The stories are filled with characters worthy of praise, real societal role-models, with the aim of helping children to choose how to pattern their way of life.
The truth however is, despite the depth of these stories, a contemporary African family in today’s world is either too busy or not fully equipped to re-create these wonderful tools when raising their children.
No wonder there is a widening gap in how we are raising our children, compared to the way we were brought up!
And that is why at www.moontalespublishing.co.uk. , our goal is to ensure that the important roles of African folktales are not totally lost or forgotten.
Pick one of our books and join us in this effort!
The post In Africa. appeared first on Moontales Publishing UK Ltd..
The post Which Languages Do People Speak in Africa? appeared first on Moontales Publishing UK Ltd..
When it comes to language, Africa is a very exciting continent. Did you know that there are over 3000 languages spoken in Africa?
In actual fact, some of the languages are not even spoken, but they are delivered in sign language that can be used over a distance and in silence. This is most likely for hunting purposes, so that when tribesmen are out in the fields to catch animals to eat, they can communicate without disturbing the animals.
Common Languages Spoken in Africa
Here is a list of the languages that are most commonly spoken:
- Arabic
- Somali
- Berber
- Amharic
- Oromo
- Swahili
- Hausa
- Igbo
- Yoruba
- Akan
- Bantu
- Lingala
- Afrikaans, etc.
The Country of Nigeria Has the Most Languages of All!
The country that speaks the most languages is Nigeria where over 500 languages are spoken. If you are not familiar with Nigeria take a look on your map of Africa and find it. You’ll see that it’s on the eastern coast. Surprisingly, the official language of Nigeria is English but it’s spoken only by a few people in the main city of Abuja.
As African countries become more aware of how important it is to keep their languages alive and not lose them, they are being encouraged by their leaders to retain their language by speaking it and using it.
The history of language and words is fascinating and is known as etymology. Africa has a very interesting history of language. South Africa is one of the largest countries and has 11 official languages.
The post Which Languages Do People Speak in Africa? appeared first on Moontales Publishing UK Ltd..
The post Mary’s Meals Provides Daily Lunch for African Children appeared first on Moontales Publishing UK Ltd..
Mary’s Meals Provides Daily Lunch for African Children.
Imagine for a moment that you are very, very hungry and your tummy is rumbling. You want to concentrate on your school work, but all you can think about is your tummy as it gurgles and groans that it hasn’t been fed all day. It would be hard to concentrate on your school work, wouldn’t it?
Not all children around the world are lucky enough to have access to enough money to eat well every day. Sometimes people from the countries with more money have to help them out by collecting money for them to be able to eat.
Mary’s Meals Feed Children Every Day At School
Mary’s Meals is one of these types of organisations. They are a charity who provides food to children who have to live with hunger and poverty. Every day they ensure that children get fed at lunchtime at their school. This is good in many ways. Not only does it mean that the children will eat but it also means that they need to go to school to eat, so they will get an education to take them out of poverty.
Education is important. Without it, it makes it hard to get a job or to know how to make money to buy things like food and shelter/a house.
Mary’s Meals started out by feeding 200 children in the African country of Malawi. They have grown in size so that they now feed over 600,000 children every day in 16 different countries.
It costs just £10.70 to feed a child for a whole school year. That isn’t a whole lot of money; some children get that every month for pocket money in Great Britain.
There are more than 300 million children in the world who are very, very hungry, so Mary’s Meals are doing a good job for them.
You Can Help to Feed African Children Too
If you want to know more about Mary’s Meals and how you can get involved in making sure that children eat every day, visit their website.
The post Mary’s Meals Provides Daily Lunch for African Children appeared first on Moontales Publishing UK Ltd..
The post 4 African Animals That Are Absolutely Amazing. appeared first on Moontales Publishing UK Ltd..
Africa has a lot of exciting animals that you wouldn’t normally find in our country. It’s an interesting fact that there are more animals in Africa than in any other continent on the planet.
You can expect to find 90 different animals with hooves, 45 different types of monkeys and over 2000 different types of fish in the lakes and seas.
Unfortunately, sometimes people hunt the animals, which is not very nice as many of the animals are low in numbers and this may prevent them from being able to breed and make more.
Our planet without any animals on it will not be so interesting. For example, some men kill elephants for their tusks as they can make jewellery and medicine out of them.
Let’s learn about some of these amazing animals that you can find in Africa:
The Leopard
The Leopard is one of the big cats and it can run up to 36 miles per hour when it’s hunting. It will eat any animal that it can catch. Its fur coat is light in colour and has what they call ‘rosettes’ on it.
Leopard
The Chimpanzee
The Chimpanzee lives in grassland, rainforest and woodland and uses it’s long powerful arms to swing from the branches of trees.
They can also walk on all fours, stand up to walk. Chimpanzees like to eat fruits, eggs and even meat.
Chimpanzees
The Elephant
The African elephant is the largest mammal found on the planet and funny enough, their ears are actually in the shape of Africa. Their long nose is called a trunk and is used for smelling, drinking, trumpeting and holding things. Their tusks are used to strip bark from trees.
Elephant
The Bongo
The bongo looks like an antelope. It’s brown and has between 10 and 15 bright white/yellow stripes on the side of it so that it can blend into the background, as a camouflage. This helps it to hide from big cats like lions and leopards. Both the male and the female have pointed twisted horns on their heads which are spiral. These horns are made out of the same material that we have for fingernails and toenails. They eat leaves and grass.
Bongo
Which animals do you know that live in Africa? Do you want to go to visit Africa?
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The post African Fruit Facts: The Mango appeared first on Moontales Publishing UK Ltd..
Greetings! It’s wonderful that you have come back to visit us here at Moontales- a place where African stories begin and end.
Today we want to tell you about one of the most common fruits that you’ll find in Africa- the mango. It’s such a sweet fruit that is both succulent and healthy to eat. It’s a smooth skinned fruit that is usually egg shaped. You cannot eat the skin, but what you’ll find inside is a delicious fruit that is orange, moist and sometimes fibrous. It certainly tastes very good.
Mangoes grow on large trees and have had a long and successful history. They’ve been enjoyed by millions of people over thousands of years and come in many different strains, just like apples do.
Mangoes 1
Mangoes 2
When Do Mangoes Grow?
Mangoes grow to a season, just like other fruits and vegetables; however, this season is at different times of the year all over the world. In the Caribbean, they are a summer fruit that appear in the months of July and August.
In Africa they are also a summer fruit, but summer in Africa is between September and March. Between November and January you’ll find them at their plentiful
Mango Facts
Here are some of the most interesting facts about Mango:
- A mango tree has to be four years old before it will produce any fruit
- Mangoes are often known as ‘the King of Fruits’
- When mangoes are picked they are usually green and then they ripen to a yellowy orange colour
So why are mangoes such a healthy fruit? Well, they are full of vitamin c and beta carotene. These are vitamins that are good for your skin, your eyes and keep colds and flu away.
Have you ever tried a mango? It is one of our favourite fruits, is it yours?
The post African Fruit Facts: The Mango appeared first on Moontales Publishing UK Ltd..
