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Culna Articles

A stitch in time: Madeiran women combine embroidery and storytelling to create heirlooms rooted in history

BY Derek du Bruyn August 12, 2026

Those who are familiar with the popular 1995 movie How to make an American quilt will remember the scenes that feature a group of women working on a quilt. While piecing together the fabric squares, they share their personal stories of love, failed relationships, disappointment and remorse. The completed quilt becomes a metaphor for the women’s lives; each square represents a unique life story. Comparably, women from the Portuguese island of Madeira have for centuries combined embroidery and storytelling to create exquisite hand-embroidered articles. The art of Bordado da Madeira (‘Madeira Embroidery’) developed in the mountainous villages of Madeira where the island’s lush vegetation served as inspiration for the embroiderers (bordadeiras).

Collections Management - Humanities

From Sweden to the Free State: The First Raadsaal Museum’s remarkable 1760 Cannon

BY Elmar du Plessis July 21, 2026

Among the many fascinating objects displayed in the First Raadsaal Museum in Bloemfontein is a small iron cannon that quietly invites more questions than it answers. It is not the largest or most imposing exhibit, yet a closer look reveals two intriguing clues cast into its barrel: the initials JEC and the date 1760.

Collections Management - Humanities

Cabinets of Curiosities 2026

BY Sudre Havenga and Elmar du Plessis July 10, 2026

Exploring N’wana

“Ku veleka vukosi…” “To bear children is wealth.”

Among the Tsonga-Shangaan people, n’wana means “child”. Although often called a fertility doll, it is better understood as a child figure – a powerful symbol of womanhood, marriage and motherhood rather than a toy.

Unlike the simple xipopana, dolls made by children from rags, clay or maize cobs, a n’wana was presented to a young woman after initiation or at marriage.

Culna Articles

The bird call legacy — from wax cylinders to smartphone applications

BY Dawie H. de Swardt July 1, 2026

Imagine you are birding in one of South Africa’s nature reserves and you hear an unfamiliar call of a bird, which species you know it may belong to. Then with today’s modern technology, you open your Sasol or Roberts’s bird app on your phone and find the species. To confirm your identification, you play the species’ call and—there you go—you guessed it right! But have you ever thought how the bird call appeared on your app, where it was obtained or even how recordings of bird calls have been made over the years?

Culna Articles

The mites in my garden — eleven species in two handfuls of soil

BY Lizel Hugo-Coetzee July 1, 2026

We often sit in our gardens, admiring the green lawns, colourful flowers, trees, birds and butterflies. Occasionally, we may spot a spider, ladybird or praying mantis. Yet beneath our feet lies a remarkable hidden world populated by tiny creatures known as mites. A small survey of oribatid mites in my own garden in a townhouse complex in Langenhovenpark, Bloemfontein, revealed eleven species of these minute arachnids.