Makarapas: the quieter craft of the World Cup

Sports Illustrated just published a fun article called World Cup Makarapas: The Anti-Vuvuzela. Makarapa means "helmet" in the South African language of Fanakalo. Because there are 11 official languages in South Africa,  Fanakalo was a developed as a universal language for miners. The Makarapa (worn by my husband and me above) began with a South African man named Alfred Baloyi. The below quote from Baloyi is an excerpt from Grant Wahl's article in Sports Illustrated. A photo of the artist is also below.

“In 1979, I was at the stadium when somebody threw a bottle and hit someone on the head,” Baloyi told me. “At the time I was working at the city council of Pretoria. They gave me a helmet, and I drew my favorite player on it. Then from there we did more things to make the makarapa. When the people liked it, I made more.”

Okay so stadium violence aside (and thank goodness for the development of the plastic beer bottle), it's very inspiring that this man turned his craft into a nation-wide trend. If vuvuzelas are banned from MLS games then bring on the soundless, silly Makarapas. Let's make Baloyi's crafts go global!