The social value of Venda riddles

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Abstract
Knowledge, understanding and magical power in Venda society: Venda riddles are used in the course of a competitive game for young people. They are educational chiefly because they may be an asset to fuller participation in Venda social life; they are not important as exercises of intellectual skill, and their contents do not appear to instruct or stimulate the imaginations of those who know them. Both riddle and answer are learnt as a linguistic whole, and it is more important to know the riddle than to be able to puzzle out the answer or understand their content, Amongst the Venda, knowledge of formal language is in a sense equivalent to magical power; the individual increases his status by joining social groups, the membership of which is assured by his knowledge of certain word‐formulae. The form of riddles resembles that of milayo formulae, which must be known by anyone who claims that he has been to certain initiation schools. Knowledge of riddles helps a Venda child to establish his identity as an individual and as a member of a junior social group, when he distinguishes himself during a riddle‐contest; knowledge of milayo and other word‐formulae helps adolescents and adults to establish their identity as members of various senior social groups, and of Venda society as a whole. Knowledge of Venda riddles is of educational value only with reference to their function in Venda social life.

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