Cultural Notes: The traditional and modern way of telling time.

Did you know? –

According to Rwandan tradition there used to be names for various times of the day; such as, “the time when the birds begin to sing” (mu bunyoni) “, the time when the cows go to pasture”,         ( inka zahuka), the time when the cow go to drink water” (inka zishoka), “the time when cows leave the pasture” (inka zitaha), “the time, in the evening, when chicken go on the perch” (inkoko zijya ku mutanda) etc. But unfortunately the traditional way of telling time has totally disappeared. Only the old generation does still remember how they used to relate to that kind of telling time. They also have adapted the modern way of telling time based on a clock or watch (isaha).  But for common use the Swahili word for “hour” (saa, or,isaha) is used. However, it is to be remembered that the day begins with daylight, rather than at midnight. Also, usually the Swahili numerals are used as well alongside or intercheangibly with Kinyarwanda words. For example: sa cumi (Kinyarwanda) and sa kumi (Swahili). But the names of most of hours are in Swahili.