South Africans Share Information About Their Custom Of Performing War Cries In High School, Part I: videos & general information

2020

1.deadlitch3p0
"these be sung before, during, and after every sports game to hype up our teams"
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2. k maart
"A lot of schools have war cries to cheer their 1st team rugby in derby games on Saterdays. But S.A all boy schools take a lot of pride in who has the best war cries, which is normally led by boy cheerleaders like those you saw dressed in weird blazers.

Only recently were full on bands involved in war cries. I don't know what school started it, but it's changed the level of school war cries for the best for sure🏆its Lit🔥"
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3. Ghostie
"The two schools that started the warcries trend are Queens College Boys High & Dale College Boys High, schools in the EasternCape"

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4. Amber Angel
"In South Africa we have have compulsory sports events at High School at which generally not only are you competing on the field but you also compete with the Spirit. Sometimes they actually award teams for the spirit trophy. So we learn a whole bunch of war cries which we then perform before, during and after the event. Spirit is very competitive in SA so we get really hyped up during war cries."

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5. Werner Roets
"Let me explain: In South Africa, high school kids are expected to come to school on Saturday and support their school sports teams dressed in full school uniform (almost all South African high schools wear uniforms). Sometimes it's optional but often it's mandatory."
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6.Karim Zolani
"6:47 those songs are called amagwijo... speaking under correction those songs are usually sang when a boy is about to become a man in the xhosa culture and is about to go to the mountain for about a month for initiation and this usually happens around 18yrs... the songs have been included in our rugby culture in recent years...ululating is what women usually do when the boy comes back from the mountain as they are happy and celebrating that their son has become a man."
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7. Courtney Viljoen
""As someone from Durban, single gendered schools are very common especially in high school. War cries are part of the ethos of a school and are taught to grade 8s as they enter the school. South Africans are extremely proud people and we are proud of our sports and schools. Hence we partake in war cries at rugby games, galas, festivals etc. The guys in two tone blazers are generally Spirit or War Cry Captains and lead the war cries. Being at events with war cries like these hypes everyone up so much and acts as a means to show school spirit in a phenomenal way. Some schools stay after school to practice for major inter school games, festivals and tournaments."
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8. Jan Hendrik Niemand
"90% of our schools in South-Africa wear uniform and in all our school we trie to keep the spirit up to keep the pupils positive and bonded it is called "Gees Vang" in Afrikaans. SA stick together. The different couler Blazers is Headboy and Headgirl with there team of 2-4 headleaders with them it happens when we want to get a positive vibe and at all our school sport events."

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9. Palesa Ngubeni
"sometimes the singing happens spontaneously too, during lunch breaks or if the teacher steps out of the class (we'd get in trouble when the teacher came back though. lol)"
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10. Jade vT
"My school would do this every as hype for athletics when competing against different schools or when competing against other teams in our school. Since it's compulsory to participate it wasn't really a positive thing for me till I saw this video. One year they gave us a choice about participating and half the school skipped it... I didn't realize it wasn't done everywhere."

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11. Thabo Mosenogi
"This is what we do during free periods"
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12. Sihle Siba
"I dont think every school has those but my school has a 1 hour sport period every Friday right before after school and if you finish practice early or if you not in a sport we chill by the quad and moshpit/dance or just flex our entertaining talents

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13.  Fee Fee
"School spirit in South Africa is massive which is why we also wear school uniforms in most schools here, amongst other reasons! War cries are choreographies that the seniors either pass down to the school or create to hype their schools up when they go to "war" with another school - much like New Zealand with the HAKKA! Our schools are very competitive in sports and culture as much as we are academically. These war cries are also to orientate the juniors as they get into high school. This is the best thing ever when you have sports festivals where multiple schools compete and the whole school rallies behind them by each performing these war cries to show their support and school spirit 😃"
-snip-
I believe that "juniors" in this comment refers to students who are in what the United States would refer to as 8th grade.

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14. Kwanele Sosibo
"The dudes with the different color suits are warcry leaders and this is done by all boys schools and some co-Ed schools it’s something we practice almost every day and do this every Saturday when the 1st team Rugby or Soccer mostly Rugby plays a game.

It’s tradition among SA boys schools to compete on and off the field so basically this is happening on both sides of the field as the players duke it out on the field.

At halftime some schools do blazer performance (Durban High School)"
-snip-
"Blazer performances" are called "flashes" and/or "spellings". Click the link for Part III in this pancocojams post for information about and videos of South African "flashes"/"spellings".

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15. Nokwanda Khoza
"Some schools in SA are usually separated between “boys” & “girls” high schools. So when ever a big rugby game or tournament happens the whole school will rally out in support of the players & sing war cries. The people holding the sticks and wearing different coloured blazers are usually prefects or head boys/ girls. They’re main role is to is to basically direct  & manage the students. Its really interesting to watch particularly because the boys schools become so competitive. I was in an all girls school & we’d go watch rugby games & war cries.... probably some of the most memorable moments in high school"
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16. Luke Horwood
"At most of the top sporting schools in South Africa Saturday is a compulsory day where you have to watch all the first teams play so the entire school is always there.These are just war crys that take part before.during and after the event has taken place especially rugby"
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17. Thashil M
"We don't have cheerleaders like in the US so the students would all just get together and song our war cries to make "pep" and inspire our players on the field"
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18. Brendan Dally
"YOOOO! I’m from south africa and went to a boys school in Johannesburg, the guys with the two colour blazers are the WAKA MEN, they lead the war cries 😍 man i miss this, and i’m living in the states now"
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19. oae
"This is the only thing i miss about high school 😂. We usually did this before and when we compete with another school in sport but we sometimes did it during school events or just to vibe out. It's to hype the teams up and intimidate the competition. The entire school is apart of it. The guys in the two coloured blazers are like hypemen/cheerleaders. They are incharge of conducting the war cries. The boys schools usually do it better😂😂 that's why there's so many boys schools in the video.

That sound you heard is ululating. We do it when we are celebrating something to show excitement and joy

props to whoever suggested this"
-snip-
The last part of this comment probaly refers to the person who suggested that the African American vlogger That Fire LA showcases a video about South African flashes on his vlog. 

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20. Bongani Lebohang Mlumbi
"We do this to encourage school spirit at beginning of every school year during sports days. It's called Gees at Afrikaans schools"
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21. lu Dlwathi
"Half the time we don't even watch the games 😂😂we literally hype the whole time"
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22. Jodi_Leigh
"I had no interest in sport. I was there to siiiiiing 🔥 🔥 🔥"
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23. a s h l y n
"sooo true😂"
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24. Linda M
"Lmaoooo during the game was snack time and ‘hit on kids from other schools’ time 😂😂😂"

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33. Real Raging Reds
"@Chad Davies  omg the memories"
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34. Ahlumile Kungwayo
"@Chad Davies  bruh... being forced by the Matrics to sing louder 😔"
-snip-
I believe that "seniors" and "upper classmen"  are comparable termsin the United States for the South African term "matrics".
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35. Adriaan Minnee
"not true anymore. it's mandatory if you want the people in the school to like you. you need to be your own person though"

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36. Zandile Funeka
"Now i’m starting to think that I didn’t go to a south African school😂"
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37. Noreal Nonyana
"@zee SA me too🤔😁 I never knew about this till today😂😅🙄"
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38. Zandile Funeka
"Noreal Nonyana honestly I feel left out 😂"
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39.Shwetha's Life
"hahah same"
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40. Zipho Masuku
"broo...but in boarding schools we usually got hyped on Fridays after school"
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41. Armaan
"If you guys didn't do this during athletics then you didn't go to SA school."
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42. Zandile Funeka
"Armaan Yare i guess I’ve been imagining being a South African all this time😂"
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43. official depac
"@Zandile Funeka  you and I both😕"
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44. Tania Meko
"Same 🤣🤣"
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45.Santhuri
"It’s like the big sport schools that do this 😂"
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46. Austin Soks
"Lol ,you should have went to Boarding School or those Roman high schools you were going to Experience this .😂This a vibe bro it reminds of my high school days .🔥🔥🔥"
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47. Zandile Funeka
"Austin Soks unfortunately my parents couldn’t afford the luxury bro😂😂sad"
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48. Bonnie M
"I go to a German South African school so i dont experience it like all the others do😭"
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49. sparky squishypaws
"It be those kasi schools that don't do things like this.... Dude I didn't even wanna believe this was south African cause we never did this in my school😂"
-snip-

"Kasi" is a South African slang term that means "hood", "ghetto"  https://rekord.co.za/learn-local-lingo/#:~:text=Kasi%20%E2%80%93%20'hood%20or%20ghetto.
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2021
50. Tiego Maja
"I went to St Albans College in South Afica. Goodness me- i just got taken aback with memories from my high school years.

To answer your questions:

1. These are war cries that we practiced on a weekly basis (as an entire school at head boys assembly).

2. The guys in the two tone jackets are typically the leaders (their role was to teach us all the war cries).

3. The war cries are sang at sport games and also serve as a tool to keep the camaraderie spirit alive"

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51. Antoinette Myburgh
"Fellow SA here, basic in school we compete against other schools. We would do athletics like high jump or sprints, etc. And when we compete the rest of the school that doesn’t compete in the athletics we sing songs to hype our athletes as well as win the spirit cup ( which is the school with the most school spirit) and its always so much fun. Most schools do it but because we wear uniforms in most schools not just private schools it looks real good. React to “MTBS flashes” for another form of “singing” we do but we use our uniforms to form pictures"
-snip-
Click Part II of this pancocojams series for examples of MTBS flashes.

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52. AngelMehl
"We absolutely have war cries and it's not limited to rugby! It's with every sport especially athletics!! When I was not on the track or the field, I was ON that stand, shouting the loudest!! Best school days ever!!!!"
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53. Mordo Bro
"We usually do this when we are about to play against our rival school, like rugby hockey and netball but rugby is the only thing that actually matters in South Africa🙏" 
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54. Michael
"When we have major sports days. It’s called inter school, it’s when 2 schools come to battle it out for the last game of the season. We have war cries and school songs we sing to cheer on our teams."
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55. ThylerJoan Strydom
"The war cries are for any sporting events, to support our school. Sometimes even for 'inter-house' sports events where separate houses in the school verses each other. Sometimes we even sing at end of our school assembly and then the national anthem."
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56. Trusenz 100
"Let me break it down for you bro. So at sporting events and/or inter-school gathering the biggest sign of pride you can have is called "School Spirit". Its crazy because we practise these over and over, recreate new ones and compose new ones in order to hype us the teams. There are competitions between grandstands/bleachers to blow the other teams spirit out like a candle. AND IT GETS SUPER LIT!!!!"
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57. Pieter van der Merwe
"This is what we do like for a week or two before athetic meets and rugby matches and just to hype up the school and the teams and get the school fam to stand together; it’s an awesome team building exercise 👌🏻💪🏼🤘🏼
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58. Amahle Gumede
"At every South African school (both co-ed/single sex) around the country there is an energy called GEES (spirit) u feel it when supporting ur school team

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59. LexStaysLiquid: The Conscious Divergent
"The navy/white blazers are for the War Cry/Spirit Leaders at a high school in Johannesburg called Saint Stithians Boys' College (I was one in '09) to keep the energy & support hyped for the 1st Rugby team, mainly. We had some really sick ones back then which were banned for being too LIT!"

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60. Alichea Coetzee
"This reminds me of primary school. We had an athletics event (think it spanned over like a week or 2 maybe?). The entire school would be split up into 3 teams of colours, I remember I was red. And we'd have the day off - you had to dress in your colour and you would sing the entire day. Each team would be spaced out over the entire school's playground and the teachers would decide who sang the loudest and the team who won, would get the "spirit cup". There was an actual athletic cup also, based on the scores of the teams (like mini Olympics) and I unfortunately can't even remember the third cup, was so long ago haha! Brings back a lot of fun memories."
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61.Alfreda Cornelius
"That is how South African schools get hyped for a game. It can go on for weeks leading to the game. It is to get the players hyped and to encourage them"

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62. 18montyJ
"War cries are common here. Schools usually have a actual school song and an official war cry. At sporting events and usually during assembly.

These new kids are killing it though with their improvisations with singing popular songs."

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DISCUSSION THREAD #2
From https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhYwtymfE_Q  SOUTH AFRICAN HIGH SCHOOL WAR-CRIES ARE LIT!! Part 2, published by That Fire LA, Oct 27, 2020
[This is the video that is given as Showcase video #3 in this pancocojams post.]
Numbers are added for referencing purposes only. 
2020
1.Uthimna Nape
"It's really hard to say which school has the best war cries, because many different languages and different war cries are done in SA, it's hard to compare them. Others are traditional, other are more in the trap genre and are for turning up.

Queens College is in Eastern Cape, where the language IsiXhosa(the one famous for the clicks) is mostly spoken. Hence most of their war cries are in the language."

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2. THE NERVE
"I'm from South Africa and if you travel by train you will hear this in the morning and it just lift your spirit in the early hours of the morning going to work or school"
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3. Frog named Jog
"This vid really made me miss singing war cries in school... May start attending soccer matches to feel that vibe again"
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4. Nametso Menyatsoe
"War cry’s happen in almost every school in South Africa doesn’t matter which part in South Africa .. because we sing the same songs almost every part of South Africa"
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5. Clantis
"Having gone to an all boys high school, war cries was our life. I miss high school😢"
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6. Nabo Mfundisi
"If you were to actually react on “Mgidi” videos you would actually learn where these songs originated from. Cause these songs are called amagwijo which are sang by men to welcome a boy into manhood. But over the years, black boys started introducing these songs to their white peers in school. But they are originally sang during initiation."
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7. Gabriel Mkhonza
"Too much irrelevant information.🙆‍♂️"
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8. Nabo Mfundisi
"@gabriel Mkhonza how is it irrelevant? Ayikho lento uyithethayo!!"
-snip-
Google translate from Xhosa to English - "You have nothing to say!!"

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9. Nancy Nyandega
" @Gabriel Mkhonza  how is it irrelevant??????we just learnt that they are initiation songs when  some of us who are not SAcan assumed they were sports chants mostly"
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10. Liberty Sibanyoni
"These are songs which are sang when black people are gathered, not just at initiation. Isizwe sakwa Zulu do not go to the mountain yet they also sing such songs and they call them indlamu if I'm not mistaken (I stand to be corrected). This is why you'll find amagwijo that are in different languages."

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11. Nabo Mfundisi
"@Liberty Sibanyoni  not amagwijo, do your research. Amagwijo originate from Xhosa people, they are sang by men during the initiation period. But over the years they managed to spread out into other activities such as sport. I am specifically speaking about amagwijo, not other songs. In this particular video these kids are singing amagwijo. You get Zulu traditional songs but they are not necessarily amagwijo"
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12. The Paige
"Boy, nothing is irrelevant over here. These songs have an origin and meaning. Boys do not just go to the mountain with a huge risk of not making it for people like you to call it irrelevant. If your tribe does not practice such rituals, just say so (no one is judging that btw).

A lot of our culture is going to be lost in the next coming decades because of this generation and that is just sad.

And btw Amagwijo (Xhosa) and Indlamu (Zulu) are way way different."
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13. The Paige
"@Liberty Sibanyoni  Indlamu and Amagwijo are very different. Did you hear any of these boys singing in Zulu or are you just yearning to be included? The Zulu culture is very beautiful, yes but stop forcing it everywhere. The Xhosa and Zulu languages might sound similar but please do not try to compare my Xhosa culture to something that it isn't."
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14. Liberty Sibanyoni
"@The Paige  why are you so emotional though? And I'm not even Zulu. I was just stating that the gift of song is an African thing, not just a Xhosa thing. Amagwijo are in every language. And "gwijo" is a Xhosa word. Other tribes also have their own words to describe these songs."
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15. The Paige
"@Liberty Sibanyoni  You cannot disregard a whole culture. Only 2 native songs were sung in this compilation and they were in 1 language. Both were amgwijo. So YOU need to relax and wait for a relevant video to talk about other tribes or cultures. Like...bro...do not come to a video that reps Xhosa culture and claim that amagwijo i.e Xhosa songs belong to any culture. Zulus have their songs, other tribes have their songs. They are very different."
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16. The Paige
" @Liberty Sibanyoni  Amagwijo are Xhosa songs. Zulu songs have their own name and Sotho songs have their own so take a seat. Uyabhuda"
-snip-
Google translate from Zulu to English= Uyabhuda = "He's a fool"

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This concludes Part I of this three part pancocojams series.
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