TOMBOLANI
Tombolami is the process whereby a King in eSwati or Kalabaan or Ekelebe or Azul (Africa's names before) would issue out Tabalaza for delivery by Nguni to other Kazis or villages, who also made and contributed Tabalaza, in return.
Tabalaza was a handmade product that, once accepted and approved by the Kingdom King, was distributed, in a very specific order, to Nguni peoples of the different Kingdoms, which was the King's Ay-yoh or Ee-Shuu (a Zulu gesture meaning Power, Completion and represented one's titled Nguni peoples Zulu warrior Strength).
An eSwatini Kingdom person and his Inkhandla became entitled to Tabalaza products, at specifically orchestrated moments in life - normally co-inciding with one would undergoing a particular Nguni peoples Rite of Passage.
In the Great Kingdom of the Zulu - which was known as eSwatini and extended all the way up to what is known as Taanzaania today and included the East Coast countries like Mozambique, Zambia and Malawi. It also included South Africa, Zimbabwe and Botswana, up to a lake that dried up long ago. Angola, Namibia and the countries that make up the rest of the triangular shaped bottom ghalf of Africa was known as the Kingdom of Shivambu or Zimbappe.
Then there was Nkulukulu: the third circular spherical shape, all three making up the whole Africa. Those spheres were known as Imali one, two and three. They were not Kingdoms but rather zones of specific activity.
Imali one was made up of the beaches and cliffside coastlines of Africa. Imali one was for moving Nguni to grazing but also for the delivery of Tabalaza goods. It extended up to 100kms from the coast and was only entered for very specific reasons, unless one was an Nguni herder.
Imali two was the middle sphere that was only for grass-eating animals, except for domesticated Mpoko or African Wild Dogs (the ones with the Mohawk, who were kept for accompanying Sultans to and from the Juma'aa or University (the very first making it's appearance in ancient times) and also to assist Imali 3 workers. Imali two was where the villages were built and where Kingdom King's would grant formations a Kazi to continue with their growth: their Imali and Tabalaza, which had to impress a Kingdom King sufficiently, to be granted a Kazi or village.
Imali 3 was the central sphere known as Nkulukulu. Or the Serengeti , but a bigger more extended version. A storey high mud and grass wall kept the predators of Djungo in and under the watchful eye of the An'Imali whisperers: the Igbobo. The Igbobo were different to the Igbo by their elongated skull, which was made so by wrapping fabric around the skull of a youngster, which caused the head to grow in the shape of a long, Kulcha rasta turban. The Igbobo were the only people to live in Imali 3 and this is because their Imali (outside duty) was taking care of the animals by making different sheltered sleeping and birthing dens, nests, kraals, pens, lofts, tree hideouts and so on. They were also groomed and checked regularly for parasites and injuries that were treated and so on.
There were 12 Tabalaza points which were marked by leather straps tied on different parts of the body or represented by different Inyambezi or animal skin regalia pieces, for example the Buvati lion skin, which are worn as a bracelet or as straightened (with a hot flat Rock) lion's mane hair that is worn on the upper arms and below the knees.
Each Tabalaza or Spenza body part that has either a leather strap wrapped around the limb or a particular Mbvelo or animal hair piece of regalia, represented a level of Spenza training attained and the Tabalaza, that was a reward, for attaining that level of Spenza: which was a series of sparring, stick, knopkierrie and spear fighting, wrestling and throwing spears, as well as sparring without a weapon.
The more sought-after Tabalaza, one would have to do Spenza training, to earn. Spenza training was basically the Tonga's Roman sparring and warfare training, which included, later on, in one's training, wrestling crocodiles and lions and Spenza 1, for example was wrestling in wet mud on one's knees holding one's opponent on the upper arms and wrestling him onto the ground - the first head that touches the ground, being the loser.
Spenza training level dictated when one was issued with much-desired Tabalaza but there were basic Tabalazas, necessary for a life well-lived, in a Kazi, that were rations for any Nguni peoples. They included things like animal skins for regalia purposes and for home mats and blankets, kiTenda for the same purpose, carved wooden water containers of different sizes and for different purposes, yard brooms, donkey and giraffe hoof glue, a cast iron or potjie pot that a whole shipment had been bartered for with people sailing past, who required water, meat and food stuffs. Salt was also a sought after commodity, used for soaking animal skins in, to sanitize and rid of lice and fleas and so on.
Another Tabalaza ration was that of Cowry shells, which were for the purpose of acting as tokens for grass-eating animals hunted. A hunter, fit men in an Nkandla, who were issued a handful of Cowry shells, would hand in a Cowry shells to the NuuGuu, in some Kazis or to one's Nkandla Makhoti or Babba's wife in others and to one's wife or daughter or mother, in others, who would sew the Cowry shells to one's Nkandla mud cloth, which was a record of one's hunts, that was displayed in the meeting Lapa, as a banner, in one's Nkandla's section of the Lapa.
When a King was about to issue Tabalaza, as well as Nguni; to carry the Tabalaza in weaved baskets made specifically for that purpose; the King and Head Herder and Inyambezi members (the Elder herders) would count the Nguni passing, one at a time and beads representing 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, 500, 1000, 2000, 5000, 10 000, 20 000, 50 000 and so on would be issued by King to the herders, who wore them in an x-shape string across their chest.
There were beads for male, female, pregnant, old, newborn, horns drained and those tipped with gold, those Nguni that were damaged, e.g. with an eye poked out or a deep scar, which were usually acquired fighting off a lion and protecting the Herder and the younger Nguni, who rested and slept during the day, in the middle of a big herd.
The King would work the beads with the Head Herder from one side of the Imali Board to the other, ensuring Blessings For The Journey and that the Herders, Nguni and returning Tabalaza arrived safely. In this music video by Nico and Vinz called Am I Wrong ? we see the makeshift temporary Imali Board being demonstrated to a Son of the Soil.
