What is
the
Mozambican
Culture?
Young men and women who took part in FRELIMO's Cultural Seminar dancing at the All African Trade Fair in Nairobi.
Frelimo's first cultural seminar
A very important event in our liberation
struggle was, at the beginning of this year
the holding of a Cultural Seminar in one
of the FRELIMO educational centres.
The seminar lasted more than 3 weeks,
from 30th December, 1971, to 21st
January, 1972. Delegates from all educational centres in Cabo Delgado, Niassa
and Tete participated.
The main objectives of the seminar were
to make an inventory of the cultural
wealth - traditional and revolutionary -
of our people, and to establish rules of
orientation in cultural activities. The
work of the seminar centred around three
basic questions: What is the Mozambican
Culture? What has our expression of
culture been in the past and what must
be preserved from that traditional culture?
How can we develop our culture?
The following commission were created:
- Commission on dance   and  songs
— Commission on drama and poetry
Commission on other cultural subjects.
The first commission made a selection of
the FRELIMO songs and issued suggestions on the contents of new songs. It
recommended also that ways must be
found for the Mozambican dances to retain their local tone but remain integrated within the context of the Mozambican nation.
The commission on Drama and Poetry
was entrusted with the task of studying
the technical ways to present staged
dramas as well as the ideas they present.
Several dramas written by FRELIMO militants were discussed, namely: «Monoma-
tapa», which tells the story of the great
Empire that existed in Central Mozambique from the twelfth to the eighteenth
centuries; «The Teacher Who Did Not
Prepare His Lessons» — a satire about
irresponsible teachers who improvise their
lessons in class with clear disadvantages
for the students; «The Witchdoctor» -
exposing the evils of superstition and the
real motivations of the witchdoctor; and
«3rd of February» — presenting important moments in the life of Comrade
Mondlane, the first President of FRELIMO.
The comrades of this commission also
made a collection of poems written by
FRELIMO militants, and gave technical
orientations on how to read and write
poetry.
The third commission made research on
other cultural activities, namely sculpture,
plastic arts, painting, drawing, journalism,
legends, children's plays, photos. It also
studied problems such as marriage, initiation rites, production, forms of dress,
etc.
Other important topics in the discussions
were the role of women in the cultural
activities, and how the old people can
contribute to preserve the positive aspects of the traditional culture.
In the children's camp there was an exhibition of toys made by the children
themselves.
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