X
XESIBE. Nguni-speaking group originating from the northern Transkei. The people are more correctly known as the amaXesibe.
XHOSA. Nguni-speaking group originating from the southern Transkei, Ciskei and eastern Cape region. The people are more correctly known as the amaXhosa and their language is referred to as isiXhosa.
XHOSA ARCHITECTURE. Although the Xhosa-speaking groups of southern Africa cannot by any means be considered as a single entity, their architectural culture has achieved a large degree of homogeneity. At one time most, if not all, are thought to have built hemispherical grass beehive dwellings but, since the early 1900s, these have been replaced with circular plan cone on cylinder structures. Barring a few regional variations in building methods and material textures, these present a uniform architectural style for the region. This has increased since the mid-1920s when local women began to whitewash monochromatic patterns upon their residence facades, leading to some chroniclers making reference to them as being "white faced".
Y
YARN. See under THATCHING TWINE. (Afrikaans: tou).
YASTI. (Indian). A mast rising from the crown of a stupa’s dome (anda), signifying the world-axis, extending from earth to heaven. The mast is a support for chattras, or symbolic parasols, which are usually found in groups of three in early Buddhist stupas, signifying Buddha, Dharma (the law), and Sangha (the community of monks).
YEALM. Prepared layer of wetted straw 350-450mm wide and 100-150mm thick. (Afrikaans: nat dekgraslaag).
Yezitena. (isiXhosa). Derived from the Afrikaans baksteen, meaning a brick. Baked or sun-dried brick.
YONI. (Indian). The female generative organ; the vulva. The symbol of the female principle. May serve as the pedestal or receiver of the linga enshrined in a Saivite temple. Together, the linga and yoni represent the unity within duality that is central to much Hindu thought.
Z
ZINC ROOF SHEETING. A whitish-blue metal used in flexible metal roofing and as a protective coating to corrugated steel sheeting. (Afrikaans: sinkdunplaat).
ZOLDER. From the Dutch. Attic room found in many rural Cape Dutch dwellings, functional as either a storage or sleeping space. Normally accessed through a door in the side gable of the building.
ZULU. Originally a small Nguni-speaking group numbering about 2000 persons inhabiting the region of northern Zululand between the upper Mhlatuzi and the White Mfolozi Rivers. They rose to political dominance under the leadership of Shaka between 1816 and 1819. Ultimately the Zulu kingdom spread along the eastern littoral from the Pongola in the north to the Tukela in the south. The word amaZulu literally means "children of the sky" and refers to the people as a whole, their country is KwaZulu and their language is referred to as isiZulu.
ZULU ARCHITECTURE. The architecture of KwaZulu was marked, up to recent times, for its wide use of grass-thatched beehive dwellings sited in wide circular settlements about a central cattle byre. This popular stereotype however has undergone extensive revision since the 1950s when the ubiquitous cone on cylinder began to replace the more picturesque but less efficient domical structures.