ÃÂKweiten-ta-ÃÂKen (English pronunciation ), also known as Rachel or Griet, was a noted ÃÂXam (San) chronicler of ÃÂXam culture and knowledge. Although her contributions to the Bleek and Lloyd archive of "Specimens of Bushman Folklore" have been limited in quantity, she played an important role in providing a female perspective on the life, rituals, and beliefs of |Xam society.
Note on click pronunciation:
Wilhelm Bleek has indicated that
⢠âÂÂthe cerebral click ! is sounded by âÂÂcurling up the tip of the tongue against the roof of the palate, and withdrawing it suddenly and forcibly.â (Tindall)
⢠âÂÂthe lateral click àis articulated by âÂÂcovering with the tongue the whole of the palate, and producing the sound as far back as possible.â (Tindall) A similar sound is often made use of in urging a horse forwardâÂÂ
ÃÂKweiten-ta-ÃÂKen was the youngest of seven children of ÃÂaa-ttin and â amme-an, and sister of Dia!kwain, who was one of Bleek and Lloyd's main informants. She would have been born in the late 1840s. Her name was said to mean 'orphan's child' and refer to her mother's feelings at the time of her birth, having just lost her own mother.
She was from the Katkop mountains and identified her father's place as ÃÂAnn or Steinpits, which Janette Deacon has traced back to the farm of Kans or Vaskans of today, South West of the town of Brandvlei in what is today the Northern Cape province of South Africa. Based on the extensive interviews of her brother Dia!kwain, we know that they had a sociable upbringing.
!Kweiten-taÃÂKen's husband was â Kasin, or Klaas Katkop, who was also an informant for Wilhelm Bleek and Lucy Lloyd. He was of mixed ethnic origin, his father being a Korana and his mother a |Xam. After the marriage, they lived with â Kasin's family, further North. She had six children, two of whom died young.
â Kasin has reported an incident during a hunt, in which he was bitten in the arm by a leopard and seriously injured. Banks speculate that this injury may have forced him and his family to join camp with !Kweiten-taÃÂKen's brother Dia!kwain, some 30 km further South. It is at that time that Dia!kwain and â Kasin were apparently involved in the killing of a trekboer, Jacob Kruger, in circumstances that remain controversial. The two men were arrested and sentenced to five years imprisonment. During their prison term at the Breakwater Convict Station, they met Wilhelm Bleek who was looking for |Xam informants for his research on the |Xam language and folklore. â Kasin was transferred to The Hill, the house of the Bleek-Lloyd family in Mowbray, where he stayed from November 1873 until March 1874.
During â Kasin's time in captivity, !Kweiten-taÃÂKen was left alone with her children. She took up with another man who gave her another son, Gert. GertâÂÂs father, however, died before â kasinâÂÂs release. !Kweiten-taÃÂKen was reunited with her first husband when he returned to his homeland at the beginning of April.
In June 1874, â Kasin and his wife !Kweiten-taÃÂKen travelled together to the Cape with two of her children. Two other children joined them later. That is how she had the opportunity to stay at The Hill, the Bleek & Lloyd house in Mowbray, for approximately six months. However, the Bleek daughters recall her being unhappy and homesick. Nonetheless, during her last month at the Cape, she was interviewed by Lucy Lloyd, sister-in-law of Wilhelm Bleek, and the interview records provide precious evidence about the cultural practices relating to the lives of |Xam girls and young women. In January 1875, !Kweiten-taÃÂKen, â Kasin and their family returned home.
!Kweiten-taÃÂKen was the only significant female informant who was interviewed at The Hill and Lucy Lloyd interviewed her for a period of less than two weeks, filling two notebooks. The records betray a sense of discomfort felt by !Kweiten-taÃÂKen. While the extent of her records is rather modest compared to the main male informants such as //Kabbo and her brother Dia!kwain, it is significant for the specific focus of her contribution. One important theme, on which she could comment from her personal experience, related to the ritual of secluding 'new maidens', i.e. young women at the time of their first menstruation, as well as the rain animal which is associated to them. She also shared stories about the foolishness of men and a story about the Leopard Tortoise, among others.