South African Dolls; Then and Now

       A little lump of clay, beaten and pounded until it became quite plastic: that is how Mam-baumi started life as a doll. For among the Kaffirs of South Africa, about whom I am now going to tell you, the parents never give their children toys to play with, but each child makes his own.

       As I was saying, Mam-baumi started life just as a lump of clay, beaten and pounded until it was quite soft, and so could be twisted and molded into any shape that was desired. Until this point there was quite a doubt as to whether she would be a doll or an animal, such as a sheep, ox, or dog, but the little Kaffir girl‚ decided that it was to be a doll, and that her name was to be Mam-baumi. All her brothers and sisters sat round, watching to see what form the clay was to take. Presently, as the busy fingers worked, the clay began to take a shape, and they saw that it was to be the funniest little clay doll, very short and stumpy, but with arms, legs, and head all complete. When these strange dolls are finished, they are left in the hot sunlight for several days to bake and harden, and are then ready to be played with. And what games they do have, too, faithfully copying, in every detail, different phases of their own and the grown-ups' daily life.

      A very popular game with the children is weddings, and for this quite a number of dolls, oxen, etc., are needed. One boy doll is made, and a number of girls and a suitable number of oxen, so that each girl may bring her dowry to her husband. But before the wedding can take place a house or kraal must be built for the married folks to live in. This is the work of the boys, and a wonderfully skillful job they make of it. Sticks and mud are used in its building, and it is an exact copy of their own dwellings.

      This house is round in shape, and several huts are generally set down together, circled round by a hedge of bushes. The sticks are set up and held together with daub and mud that very quickly dries in the hot sunshine. As a means of entrance, there is a low doorway which can be closed at night by means of a hurdle, but this is the only opening of any kind that there is, as no windows or chimneys are thought to be necessary.

      At the middle of the hut a small depression is formed in the beaten floor, with a ring of earth round it, which serves as a fireplace, and where, in the live people's huts, a fire is always burning, night and day, The air inside is simply suffocating, for, remember, that there are neither windows nor chimney, so that all the smoke from the fire is always floating about inside, and slowly making its way out through the chinks and crevices, the best way it can. The boys build this doll's house extremely neatly, and when the walls, etc., are complete, thatching the roof is left to the girls.

       Even yet they are not ready to play weddings, for there is the furniture, etc., to be provided, and a number of clay pots, jars, etc., are formed and baked in the sun; then there are the oxen, wives, etc. Most of the remaining furniture consists of a few baskets, some sleeping mats, and wooden pillows. Then the clothes must be provided.

       The Kaffirs have a great love for European clothing, and will wear the most extraordinary combination of garments that ever you saw. The native girls and women almost all wear leather petticoats, that are made very soft by fraying, and, sometimes, tiny ones of these are made for the dolls, in imitation of their little owners. And then the great game of wedding begins, and what shouts of joy and laughter accompany it‚ for the Kaffirs are the merriest little children in all the world‚ until, finally, the brides are brought home in triumph to the dolls' house, that has been built with such pains and care.

       Sometimes the game is varied and takes the form of beer-drinking; for the children will imitate, in their play, everything that they see the grown-ups do, and everything can be turned into a doll game by the exercise of a little imagination.

       Sometimes the girls make a very curious doll from the Indian corn stalks. This dolly is made of the corn-cob, then all the grains are stripped off and the cob dressed in a piece of blanket. Two beads are used to form the eyes, and pieces of wool are ravelled out from the blanket, so as to make the hair which is stuck on the top. No Kaffir girl is allowed to take her doll to bed with her, so that all the "cuddly" times take place during the day, but she loves her funny little clay or corn-cob dolly just as much as you would love the most splendid wax or porcelain doll from London or Paris!

See the modern Mommpy MPoppy doll!