Arte Sona candidate for World Heritage.
The Ministry of Culture and Tourism (MCT) is preparing the candidacy of the ethnomathematic art “Sona”, symbol of the Tchokwe culture, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, ANGOP learned Friday.
The information was provided by the director of the provincial office for Culture, Tourism, Youth and Sports in Lunda Norte, Josefo Fernando, underlining that the proposal for their registration, to be presented in 2023, aims at their insertion in the various universities of the world, with with a view to the scientific study of linguistic and communication anthropology reserved for the Lunda-cokwe peoples.
He stressed that in 2021, “Sona” was elevated to the category of intangible cultural heritage by the Ministry of Culture. On the other hand, he defended its inclusion in the curriculum of Mathematics teaching in Angola, because it guarantees a multicultural training for all fringes.
Sona art
Sona, which means writing in the sand, was a form of communication of the ancestors of the eastern region of the country, predominated by the Tchokwe people, who wrote messages by engravings on the walls of houses, trees and on the ground (sand) in the villages, to be deciphered by the people. other community members.
These engravings (Sona), which are difficult to understand, are currently in the Dundo Museum, and in a book that addresses the Bantu culture and has already been portrayed in the feature film "The gods of water", in a co-production between Argentina and Angola, in 2013.
Recent research indicates the existence, at the time of filming the feature film, of only one old man, an employee of the Dundo Museum, who was still practicing Sona and who was one of the local actors in the film.
Currently, there are more than 10 scientific works, published in various parts of the world, depicting Sona and none in Angola.
World Heritage
In 2017, UNESCO declared the historic center of the city of Mbanza Congo, northern Angola, as a World Heritage Site.
The first validated in the country by UNESCO, Mbanza Congo, was the capital of the most powerful state in the southern region of Africa, influencing economically and politically many other neighboring states at the time.
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Picture: © 2022 DR
