Provincial Coat of Arms
The supporters, the lion and the wildebeest, are symbols of the regions that were joined to create KwaZulu-Natal, KwaZulu and Natal, respectively. The zig-zag stripe is representative of the Drakensberg. The star represents the coastline, named Natalia by Vasco da Gama on Christmas Day, 1497, as well as the Zulu myth that the Zulu people are "people of heaven" or "star people". The strelitzia flower on the shield is a symbol of the province's beauty. The assegai and knobkierrie behind the shield represent peace and protection. The crown base is a headring, traditionally worn by Zulu elders and representing wisdom and maturity. The crown is a round grass hut built in the Zulu style. The motto is Masisukume Sakhe, Zulu for "Let Us Stand Up and Build".
Read more about this topic: KwaZulu-Natal
Famous quotes containing the words provincial, coat and/or arms:
“The divinity in man is the true vestal fire of the temple which is never permitted to go out, but burns as steadily and with as pure a flame on the obscure provincial altar as in Numa’s temple at Rome.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“We want some coat woven of elastic steel, stout as the first, and limber as the second. We want a ship in these billows we inhabit. An angular, dogmatic house would be rent to chips and splinters, in this storm of many elements. No, it must be tight, and fit to the form of man, to live at all; as a shell is the architecture of a house founded on the sea.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“The eyes that drew from me such fervent praise,
The arms and hands and feet and countenance
Which made me a stranger in my own romance
And set me apart from the well-trodden ways;”
—Petrarch (1304–1374)