{"id":2496,"date":"2017-05-02T15:04:05","date_gmt":"2017-05-02T15:04:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/heirsholdings.com\/hhpeople\/?p=2496"},"modified":"2017-06-02T13:34:39","modified_gmt":"2017-06-02T13:34:39","slug":"21-african-proverbs-to-celebrate-your-african-ness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.heirsholdings.com\/hhpeople\/2017\/05\/21-african-proverbs-to-celebrate-your-african-ness","title":{"rendered":"21 African Proverbs to Celebrate your African-ness"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Lanre Sonubi<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

I recall an African scholar wrote that every man that dies in Africa is like setting a library ablaze.<\/p>\n

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As early as six years old, we were taught African proverbs, riddles, folk tales, and jokes before we were even taught how to read and write. That was a beauty growing up in a typical African community.<\/p>\n

I recall we used to have a Yoruba dictionary in the house then. My father would always speak our traditional dialect\u2014Ijebu\u2014any time he got excited or angry. His proficiency in writing and speaking both Yoruba and English languages used to fascinate even his contemporaries. He was a true African.<\/p>\n

Most of us have\/had a semblance of that man in our fathers. They were tough, principled, resolute, and proud of their roots. That should have been our edge, coupled with our rich heritage of culture and nature.<\/p>\n

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Our true strength should have been in those strong ties we have with Mother Nature.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, here we are.<\/p>\n

I recall an African scholar wrote that every man that dies in Africa is like setting a library ablaze. Now I ask myself \u201chow many libraries have been set ablaze?\u201d I am certain, even the National Bureau of Statistics does not have the answer.<\/p>\n

All hope is not lost though. I laud the initiative of Africa Day celebration\u2014the annual commemoration of the 1963 founding of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), presently recognized as the Africa Union (AU).<\/p>\n

On every May 25th<\/sup>, we remind ourselves how much more we need to do as Africans, while commemorating how far we have come as a peculiar race.<\/p>\n

Going back to the beauty of African culture and languages, we cannot but talk about proverbs. Many African proverbs are strongly tied to the earth and animals, conveying lessons of life and learning often through daily, seemingly menial procedures. An example of a Zimbabwean proverb is \u201cthere is honey but no bees\u201d \u2014 describing a situation when you find something free for the taking and without consequence.<\/p>\n

Here is a list of 20 African proverbs from around the continent. Some are known to come from specific tribes, ethnic groups, or countries, and others have an unknown source and are listed simply as \u201cAfrican proverbs.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Have a read and pluck out some ancestral insights from the motherland to carry with you.<\/p>\n

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  1. A bird that flies off the earth and lands on an anthill is still on the ground. \u2013 Igbo proverb<\/li>\n
  2. Where water is the boss there the land must obey. \u2013 African proverb<\/li>\n
  3. A spider\u2019s cobweb isn\u2019t only its sleeping spring but also its food trap. \u2013 African proverb<\/li>\n
  4. If you do not have patience you cannot make beer. \u2013 Ovambo proverb<\/li>\n
  5. If you pick up one end of the stick you also pick up the other. \u2013 Ethiopian proverb<\/li>\n
  6. You must attend to your business with the vendor in the market, and not to the noise of the market. \u2013 Nigerian proverb<\/li>\n
  7. When you befriend a chief remember that he sits on a rope. \u2013 Ugandan proverb<\/li>\n
  8. A doctor who invoked a storm on his people cannot prevent his house from destruction. \u2013 Nigerian proverb<\/li>\n
  9. He that beats the drum for the mad man to dance is no better than the mad man himself. \u2013 African proverb<\/li>\n
  10. The young bird does not crow until it hears the old ones. \u2013 Tswana proverb 20.<\/li>\n
  11. If you carry the egg basket do not dance. \u2013 Ambede proverb<\/li>\n
  12. Even the best cooking pot will not produce food. \u2013 African proverb<\/li>\n
  13. The child of a rat is a rat. \u2013 Malagasy proverb<\/li>\n
  14. He who is unable to dance says that the yard is stony. \u2013 Masai proverb<\/li>\n
  15. When the roots of a tree begin to decay, it spreads death to the branches. \u2013 Nigerian proverb<\/li>\n
  16. Even the lion, the king of the forest, protects himself against flies. \u2013 Ghanaian proverb<\/li>\n
  17. Birds sing not because they have answers but because they have songs. \u2013 African proverb<\/li>\n
  18. If your only tool is a hammer, you will see every problem as a nail. \u2013 Gambian proverb<\/li>\n
  19. When you show the moon to a child, it sees only your finger. \u2013 Zambian proverb<\/li>\n
  20. Be a mountain or lean on one. \u2013 Somali proverb<\/li>\n
  21. A flea can trouble a lion more than a lion can trouble a flea. \u2013 Kenyan proverb<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    By Lanre Sonubi I recall an African scholar wrote that every man that dies in Africa is like setting a library ablaze.   As early as six years old, we were taught African proverbs, riddles, folk tales, and jokes before we were even taught how to read and write. That was a beauty growing up […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2498,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2496","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heirsholdings.com\/hhpeople\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2496","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heirsholdings.com\/hhpeople\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heirsholdings.com\/hhpeople\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heirsholdings.com\/hhpeople\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heirsholdings.com\/hhpeople\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2496"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.heirsholdings.com\/hhpeople\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2496\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2512,"href":"https:\/\/www.heirsholdings.com\/hhpeople\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2496\/revisions\/2512"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heirsholdings.com\/hhpeople\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heirsholdings.com\/hhpeople\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heirsholdings.com\/hhpeople\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heirsholdings.com\/hhpeople\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}