Whilst culture shapes people’s behaviour, beliefs and attitudes, as Malinga-Musamba and Ntshwarang (2014:233) correctly observe,
proverbs, regarded as the intellectual property of the elders or ancestors to whom all conscientious Africans subscribe, are the reservoir of non-negotiable truth. Accepting this view, it is also good to take cognisance of Wa Ngugi’s (2009:50) opinion in which he cautions us not to identify the essence of African culture by means of just a few proverbial statements.
Proverbs usually presume to be the intellectual property of the experienced who are obligated to instruct the uninitiated. Avoseh (2013) affirms this view by stating the following:
[T]he first and most important ‘theoretical framework’ in indigenous African education are ancestors whose ‘theories’ are passed on to all generations through the power of the spoken word situated in layers of orality. (p. 237)
It is important to underscore Masaka and Makahamadze’s (2013:133) view that the Shona ancestral viewpoint was greatly distorted and misrepresented by missionary and anthropological studies where veneration was mistaken for worship. They state:
The Shona do not worship [ancestors] but simply venerate them because they are an important stage in the process of communicating with Mwari [God]. The Shona clearly captures this actuality by way of ingenious proverbs that shows that [ancestors] are not ends in themselves but means to some greater ends that is Mwari. (p. 133)
Traditional songs and games, as Nyota and Mapara (2008:189–202) opine, are one of the ways of learning what a given culture can offer. The same applies to storytelling as Jirata and Simonsen (2014:135–49) demonstrate in their study on Oromo-speaking children in Ethiopia. However, proverbs epitomise the power of the spoken word from which truth is established.
This would be true about biblical proverbs in that the sage ‘gave counsel, with the insight derived from keen observation of life, from years of
experience, and from wide acquaintance with the fund of ancient wisdom’
(Anderson 1993:572). The book of Proverbs is therefore a collection of collections of years of wisdom in what Gerstenberger (2001:25) has argued to be a family-based faith – a theology of the elementary needs of life, particularly pronounced after the collapse of state faith. He asserts that shared life ensured the ‘productive and protective activities of wife and husband, children and elderly in the family association directed together to the one goal, making possible the survival of the group’ (Gersternberger 2001:25). Proverbs, amongst others, became a very important medium through which the intended intellectual property was passed on from one generation to the next.
Interestingly, although proverbs are easily recognisable, paremiologists will admit that they are not easy to define. However, they are a preserve of observable phenomena that command unquestionable authority as intimated above. Hamutyinei and Plangger (1996:xiii) suggest that ‘one of the most revealing clues to the mind of a people is found in its proverbial lore’. With specific reference to the Shona people, of whom they have put together the most comprehensive collection of proverbs containing almost 2000 proverbs categorised under various helpful themes, they add that ‘the Shona of Zimbabwe, like most of the Southern Bantu, are exceedingly rich in proverbs. Proverbs also appear to be the most cherished and interesting part of their oral literature’ (Hamutyinei & Plangger 1996:xiii). To some extent, and especially amongst the senior members of society, proverbs have remained part of everyday speech. They communicate commonly sanctioned truth distinctly and succinctly. It is a truism that ‘[a] Proverb is worth a thousand words’ (Mieder 1993:x), hence their uses in oral speech, political rhetoric, newspaper headlines, book titles, advertising slogans and cartoon captions. Mieder (1993) concludes:
If used to manipulate people economically or politically proverbs might even become dangerous weapons as expressions of stereotypical invectives or unfounded
generalisations. But, for the most part, it can be said that if used consciously and perhaps somewhat sparingly, proverbs remain to the present day a most effective verbal tool. (p. x)
For this reason, proverbs on children should be quite revealing about the inherent conception of childhood and related rubrics within a given geo-context. I already alluded to the issue of proverbial authority to which I must add that, when people use proverbs, it is in a conscious attempt to appeal to a commonly adhered authority, on the one hand, and a value system that gives both meaning and identity, on the other hand. This mutuality between folk invariably becomes the basis for the correct understanding of a given proverb and its application. In this regard, Avoseh (2013:243) comments that the holistic nature of the African world view has its advantages, but it also makes certain things difficult to explain to an outsider to the traditional African mindset. His comment is important to bear in mind, especially in view of the fact that proverbial truth is obligatory to adherents of the given culture. To an outsider, it is perhaps statements to be analysed and weighed, an option that does not necessarily exist for the insider.
According to Monye (1990:10) language, which is basically what proverbs are, helps people to ‘express their thoughts, beliefs feelings, actions etc. When people use proverbs they also project some of the values which give them identity’. For that reason, the ‘truthfulness’ of a proverb in its original setting is neither doubted nor debated. Kwesi Yankah (1994:127) affirms that proverbs are not universal truths but rather limited pieces of folk wisdom which are valid only in specific situations. However, for the folk in that given context, proverbs that are based on, as Kudadjie (1996:2) says, ‘observations made about the nature and behaviour of human beings, animals, birds, plants and natural as well as supernatural objects and beings’ invariably become a form of identification. Therefore,
the question of the apparent contradictions between proverbs that some have raised is only a valid inquiry for ‘outsiders’. By the same token, ideals that are subscribed to in one context may not necessarily be embraced elsewhere.
An additional word on proverbs pertains to their function. More than providing mere commentary on observed phenomena, proverbs, by appealing to ancient wisdom, contribute significantly to a given discourse. In this regard, proverbs are viewed as ‘speech acts’, representing a commonly understood manner of speaking that conveys a well-formulated strategy for handling a given social situation. As Grobler (1994:95) reveals in his study of the Northern Sotho use of proverbs, the addresser assumes expertise by quoting a proverb which is in his discourse a ‘prescription’ for handling a situation. Similarly, Monye (1990:3) says that the proverb users’ assert themselves as people who understand the given social problem and their capability to solve it, hence the precursory catchphrase ‘our elders say’. In this fashion, there is always a connection between a proverb and its referent in a social context. In some cases, the connection might be to alter the referent as deviating from the norm. So doing, the function of the proverb intends to restore the commonly held viewpoint. To this end, Başgöz (1990) comments as follows:
Folk definition is necessitated when the traditional harmony between the proverb lore and general culture turns to disharmony. In such a situation, the proverb, its message and function or its association with the magico-religious social life requires a new and different interpretation. The folk definition of proverb by various means is an attempt to re-establish and old harmony by a redefinition or reinterpretation of proverbs … to increase the power and social prestige of proverbs … (p. 17)
An outsider, therefore, faces the unprecedented challenge of ethnographic distance that, in turn, imposes unwarranted misgivings on the widely
known and talked about proverbial truth amongst the folk. Whilst proverbs are subscribed to by everyone within the social context, that subscription may not be true for an outsider. The logic of proverbs, as much as the definition, is culturally based. Otakpor (1987), quoting an Igbo proverb, concludes:
As words of wisdom proverbs are mechanisms employed in speech acts. They are used to ‘salt’ speech just as common salt is used to make soup taste better, ‘just as you need hot pepper to eat rotten meat’. (p. 263)
By design, proverbs invite reflection, hence their prominence in sacred and secular literature. Regarding the book of Proverbs, if one accepts that the compilation of the material was post-exilic as most scholars opine, it is plausible that the book intended to preserve what would otherwise be lost within a political stalemate as reflected in Psalm 137. Without the temple and the related priestly and cultic practices, Israelites had to rely on a new form of preserving their faith. Gerstenberger (2001) argues in this regard:
The store of paternal and maternal customs, not only collected in the family but also handed down in the wider cultural context, was the hallowed basis of all internal relationships. It was presumably available in wisdom sayings (proverbs), exemplary narratives, songs and commandments (norms of behaviour), which were inculcated from youth upwards. Their vulnerable age alone made the basic rules of family relationships divine norms and talks. (p. 27)
The exilic scenario would have exacerbated the need for such instruction as the very survival of Israelite faith was threatened to the core. I deduct from this that one can extrapolate from proverbial wisdom the ideals that are latent within a given people’s perspectives on life. In thinking about our subject on Shona conceptions of childhood, I therefore read Shona proverbs to decipher the perceived norms and values through which I view current realities. This view can be confirmed from another angle. In the preface to the book Growing up in the Shona society, Michael Gelfand
(1992:iv) reveals that a child’s reasoning capacity is developed through learning proverbs, riddles, playing games, listening to stories and taking part in the songs sung by people. The deliberate choice of proverbs as a medium of communication in home-based nurturing in the Shona culture and the book of Proverbs seems to be intended to maximise the effect on the part of the intended hearer. In these proverbs are embedded the perceived norms and values that can give us some insight into the prevailing conceptions of childhood amongst the users of the proverbs.
We now turn our attention to some selected proverbs for this purpose.