Fountain of roses & city of cheetahs

The protagonist of this post is my South African friend Saki, whom I met many years ago in a summer school in Cracow, Poland. He was at the time among a number of Black students admitted to study Law at the prestigious Wits university immediately after the end of apartheid. Saki also studied Political Science and went on to become a diplomat. He travels the world for a living but always likes to return to South Africa where he enjoys spending time in his garden in Pretoria. He is not only an amateur gardener but a lover of fragrances, of which he has a respectable collection. Saki graciously agreed to share his memories of Bloemfontein and the scents he encountered in his childhood.

Free State landscape

I was born and grew up in Bloemfontein, a capital city of the Free State province of South Africa. The landscape is mostly flat inland with hills and valleys, there are no mountains (the closest are Drakensberg/Maluti which borders Lesotho and South Africa).  The two main rivers, the Orange river in the southwest and Vaal river is closer to the Northern part of the province towards Johannesburg. The flora of Free State is a combination of native species (Sparmannia africana, Hypoxis rooperi (African star grass), Eucomis, Nerine laticoma, Geranium incanum, Felicia ovata) and non-African botanical species brought by the settlers/the Boers who moved from the Cape to the hinterlands. They brought with them the influences of the Dutch and French Huguenots. Bloemfontein, the word Bloem is Afrikaans for Rose, (the city’s Sotho/Tswana name is Mangaung, meaning City of cheetahs); it is also known as City of Roses, which is rather curious given that the Free State province is semi-arid, mostly Highland grassland and without the lush vegetation one might assume it has. Since 1976 the city hosts the Rose festival, which attracts many people to the city. Many black townships in the Free State, including those around Bloemfontein, in particular are desolate spaces without much greenery because they were far from water sources. The plots with easy access to water sources had been taken by white farmers or the by white residents due to racial segregationist policies or laws.

Grandma’s garden

I grew up at my grandparents’ house. They had a garden patch where they grew spinach, potatoes, and other vegetables that could be consumed during the harsh winters. My Grandma also grew pumpkin, and as children growing up we would clean the seeds, including sunflower seeds, and roast them in cast iron stove; it was a favourite pastime. They also had fruit trees in the family garden which included some peach trees that gave us fruits full of flavour and I particularly liked the smell of ripening fruit and blooming trees. In terms of food flavours, I remember the smell of ‘moroho wa thepe’, also known as African spinach-type – a wild growing, green plant with smooth skin on the leaves and a nice, gentle scent. We used to pick it in the ‘veld’ or fields, it was cooked with a bit of salt and cow lard and eat it with a pap. There was also seruwe – another plant with prickly leaves, cooked and mix with potatoes. For festive occasions, like the time when my uncles used to visit, meat and sausages were bought. One was working at the time in the mines  near Welkom and the other in Johannesburg, and for their visits we’d fry sausage, a smell that always fascinated me. At Christmas, my grandpa used to buy and slaughter a  sheep. He was a railway policeman and the provider of the family so, to honour him, his favourite dishes were cooked. He used to love sheep’s tongue and liver and was sharing those with me. He passed away too soon and grandma was left to take care of a large family- at one time there were nine of us grandchildren living under her roof, sharing  limited resources.

Healing plants

My great grandmother and my grandmother practiced traditional healing. They would go into the field looking for medicinal plants or herbs to cure a number of illnesses and I was taken along to help them dig up some of the herbs, namely shrubs and bulbs they would be looking for. Some of these plants, like the African Lily, a purplish coloured plant used for medicinal purposes, was not native to the Free State but brought in later. The plants were brought into the house, dried and used for mainly drinking, some dispensing a very peculiar scent. My grandma and mom used to tell me the names of the plants in Sesotho, like that of this one white flower that had a fascinating, pleasant and sweet smell, which would be prepared and drunk as tea and had healing properties. There was also aloe grown around the house, which would be used for drinking or washing. I wish I would still remember the name so I can look for it.

Historically, the knowledge and traditions were mostly passed down through generations by people like grandmother who were not literate, whatever they knew they got from their forbearers and passed it on to their children and grandchildren. My mom was also a healer and she used to go dig for herbs and medicinal plants, but later on she started buying the ingredients from gatherers and traders. I subsequently left Bloemfontein and could no longer help or keep up, that’s why a lot of knowledge of many traditional things and plants, including names were forgotten and lost. For my mother, it was easier  to buy them than going to the fields to collect them. Plants were used for healing the body ailments and other illnesses. For instance, a plant called Impepho, with small white flowers, also known as African sage or sacred incense, was used for many purposes including cleansing, and to ward off evil, used during funerals but also other occasions; not unlike the tradition of burning incense in the Catholic church. It’s strong aromatic, releasing thick smoke when burnt but it lingers for a while. Later on there was also an Indian influence of burning incense sticks, some with pleasant aroma and others a bit too strong. But I’m the main, many medicinal plants were indigenous and locally sourced.

From Nivea creme to Safari

In the house, my mum and aunt used to polish the floors with a lavender scented product, so when I was walking in there was a pleasant smell of lavender. It might be reason why I associate the lavender scent with cleanliness. I have a pretty good memory of scents and odours, perhaps more than the average person. I like very subtle and sweet fragrances, perhaps influenced by being exposed to these scents. My aunts and mother liked the skin lotions with cocoa butter at the time and my uncle used the Old Spice deodorant. He was a smoker and the fragrance mixed with smoke was to me very intriguing. The teachers used to have nice fragrances, I would catch a whiff of their scent when they were passing through the classroom. It was always fascinating the arrangements in class, boys were seated on one side and the girls on the other side.

I started using commercial fragrances in middle school, with deodorant, perfumed soaps and even fragranced lotions like Vaseline and the Nivea lotion which I love the smell of to this day. Growing up, I used to go shopping in large supermarkets, like OK, Checkers stores or Hypermaket, that had everything from food, cleaning, to beauty and fragrance sections. Clothing stores would also have fragrance departments, for instance Edgars stores had a section with perfumes, makeup and so on; it still does. Although South Africa had sanctions at the time but products were still coming in from the US, France, Switzerland, in addition to local products. In the ’80s many black South Africans would try to boycott some local products, as a form of activism.

When I started dating in high school, girls would put nice smelling oil on their hair and maybe even a proper fragrance if they could get a bit from their mom or aunt. The brand Shield, original produced in Australia, was very popular for man and women, very long lasting, it had roll-ons, aerosols, creams and was one of the go-to brands. Later on, in Johannesburg, when I joined Wits as a student, I started to be aware of certain fragrances or perfumes like Tabac and Safari by Ralph Lauren, which I was obsessed with perhaps because I associated with Africa and the wild. I was interested in the reaction one gets when fragrance is applied and occasionally was pleasantly surprised when l got responses from strangers; like when I was wearing the fragrance Joop and a stranger inquired if I wearing it, which indeed I was. The scent of mint cigarettes was also appealing although I was never much of a smoker- I tried smoking Camel cigarettes for a short time during university with a dear friend but I was never into it.

My own garden

Today I have a garden where I grow roses, variety of plants. I am thinking whether to add some jasmine, which have some of my favourite scents, next to that of bergamot. I enjoy sitting in my garden and love the smell of freshly cut grass and roses, under the big night sky. I love perfumes and enjoy the sweet, pleasant fragrances. A big part of my love of scents and smells, fragrances and perfumes, originate from my youth and growing up, the pleasant smells of herbs, including medicinal, flowers, blossoming trees, fruits, cooking food, perfumed/fragranced soaps, lotions, creams and occasionally perfumes which I came across. I particularly love sweet, subtle scents and smells. The journey of discovery continues to this day.

Photo: Unsplash (Marcus Lofvenbert & Jared Subia)