{{Short description|Ethnic group in Southern Africa}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2023}} {{for|the ethnic group native to South Papua, Indonesia|Yei people (Indonesia)}} thumbnail|right|Yeyi people (described as Bayeye), 1861 The '''Yeyi people''', also known as the '''Mayeyi''' or '''Bayeyi''', are a Bantu-speaking ethnic group native to Southern Africa. They are part of the larger Lozi ethnic group and have significant populations in Botswana and Namibia.The Yeyi immigrated to the area in the 18th century from the north, and lived in close cooperation with the San people, or ''Basarwa, ''in particular, the Xanikhwe (otherwise known as Maghumaahi, meaning the San clan who live along riverbanks, just like the other riverine tribes such as Wayeyi and others) who had lived in the area previously. They speak ShiYeyi, a language that was influenced by the San and exhibits the characteristic clicks<ref name=heritage>{{cite news |title=Mayeyi celebrate cultural heritage |last=Sanzila |first=George |newspaper=New Era |url=https://www.newera.com.na/2014/08/05/mayeyi-celebrate-cultural-heritage/ |date=5 August 2015 |archive-date=4 March 2016 |access-date=5 August 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304092408/https://www.newera.com.na/2014/08/05/mayeyi-celebrate-cultural-heritage/ |url-status=usurped }}</ref> but Silozi is used as the formal language in official, educational, and media contexts. The Bayeyi population is 68,400.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Yeyi people group in all countries {{!}} Joshua Project |url=https://joshuaproject.net/people_groups/16033 |access-date=2024-08-04 |website=joshuaproject.net}}</ref>
According to oral tradition, the baYei emigrated from the kingdom of the Lozi people in the 18th century, and were led into Ngamiland by the skilled fisherman and hunter Hankuzi. When the baYei met the baKhakwe people, Hankuzi married one of their women, possibly as a guarantee of peace. A number of immigration waves followed. The baYei learned many of the baKhakwe's survival skills, including new fishing techniques, while the baYei are credited with bringing the canoe-building technology to Ngamiland. The baYei also had connections to the Lozi in the north, and traded tobacco for iron with them. Iron was important in the baYei economy for producing spearheads and tools.<ref name="Botswana Ethnic Groups">{{Cite web|title=Botswana Ethnic Groups|url=https://study.com/academy/lesson/botswana-ethnic-groups.html|website=Study.com|language=en|access-date=2020-05-25}}</ref>
In the early 19th century the baTswana tribe known as baTawana arrived in the Ngamiland. After the arrival, many of the baYei became serfs, or {{Transliteration|yey|batlhanka}}, of the baTawana. Initially the servitude was voluntary in many cases, as it offered protection to attach oneself to a powerful household.<ref name="Botswana Ethnic Groups"/>
In Namibia, the Mayeyi were first recognised as an independent tribe in 1992; before they were covered under the Mafwe traditional authority.<ref name=heritage/> The seat of their ''khuta'' (royal homestead) is the settlement of Sangwali in the Judea Lyaboloma Constituency of the Zambezi Region. The current traditional chief, since 1993, is Chief Boniface Sifu.<ref>{{cite thesis |url=https://edepot.wur.nl/446408 |title=Enactment of 'Community' in Community Based Natural Resources Management in Zambezi Region, Namibia |first=Rodger |last=Lubilo |access-date=14 November 2019 | publisher=Wageningen University and Research |year=2018 |isbn=978-94-6343-858-2}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MKi9ABYsCqAC&pg=PA81 |page=81 |title=La Namibie |location=Paris |first=Christian |last=Bader |publisher=Karthala |year=1997 |isbn=9782865376445|language=fr}}</ref> This is also the place where ''Batsara Batsapi'', the annual cultural festival of the Mayeyi people, is conducted.<ref>{{cite news |title=Batsara Batsapi festival attracts thousands |newspaper=New Era |url=https://www.newera.com.na/2015/08/04/batsara-batsapi-festival-attracts-thousands/ |date=4 August 2015 |archive-date=14 August 2015 |access-date=5 August 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150814005457/https://www.newera.com.na/2015/08/04/batsara-batsapi-festival-attracts-thousands/ |url-status=usurped }}</ref> This recognition (which was accompanied by that of the Mashi people), is not without political importance: the Mafwe were suspicious of the move since the Yeyi and the Mashi had begun shifting their political allegiance to SWAPO, the most powerful political party in Namibia, and traditional opponents of the Mafwe's desire for independence.<ref>{{cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G8e_CwAAQBAJ&pg=PA283 |title=Indigenous Knowledge of Namibia |editor1-last=Chinsembu |editor1-first=Kazhila C. |publisher=University of Namibia Press |year=2016 |isbn=9789991642055 |first1=John Makala |last1=Lilemba 1 |first2=Yonah Hisbon |last2=Matemba |chapter=Reclaiming indigenous knowledge in Namibia's post-colonial curriculum: The case of the Mafwe people |pages=283–310}}</ref>
==Culture== {{unreferenced section|date=August 2015}} The baYei had a matrilineal succession, i.e. the inheritor of a kingdom is the son of a sister to the king.
The baYei believed in a creator god who lived among the humans. One day the god became angry with the humans for their wickedness and went to heaven. He does not interfere much in the world, except for throwing down the occasional thunderbolt. The baYei also venerate ancestor spirits.
Crops that are important for the baYei culture includes sorghum and tobacco.<ref>{{Cite web|title=FAU South Africa Bureau – Friends of the African Union|url=https://friendsoftheafricanunion.com/fau-bureaus/south-africa/|website=Friends of the African Union|language=en-US|access-date=2020-05-26|archive-date=20 November 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231120192727/https://friendsoftheafricanunion.com/fau-bureaus/south-africa/|url-status=dead}}</ref> Maize and sweet potatoes especially for those people in the Okavango Delta are also grown widely.
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{Cite news|url=https://dailynews.gov.bw/news-detail/16077 | title=Tembwe Motshidisi: Self-acclaimed Wayeyi historian|last=Thaba|first=Atomic|date=27 November 2014|newspaper=The Daily News}}
{{Ethnic groups in Botswana}} {{Ethnic groups in Namibia}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Yeyi people}} Category:North-West District (Botswana) Category:Zambezi Region Category:Ethnic groups in Botswana Category:Ethnic groups in Namibia Category:Yeyi