Editing Blue crane (section)

==Cultural references==
[[File:Blue Crane (Anthropoides paradiseus) parading (32458639642).jpg|right|frameless]]
The blue crane is culturally significant to the [[Xhosa people]], who call it ''indwe'' (flag).<ref>{{cite web | url=http://indwetrust.org/about | title=Indwe Trust - About | publisher=Indwe Trust | access-date=2013-06-14 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131006104520/http://indwetrust.org/about | archive-date=6 October 2013 | url-status=dead }}</ref> Traditionally, when a man distinguished himself in battle or otherwise, he was often decorated by a chief with blue crane feathers in a ceremony called ''ukundzabela''. Men so honoured, who would wear the feathers sticking out of their hair, were known as men of {{Transliteration|xh|ugaba}} (trouble)—the implication being that if trouble arose, they would reinstate peace and order.

It is also of significance to the [[Zulu people]], whose kings and warriors wore a single or many feathers as a headdress.<ref name="natalia">{{cite journal |last=Koopman |first=Adrian |date=December 2017 |title=Isithwalandwe: The wearing of the crane feather |url=http://natalia.org.za/Files/47/Natalia%20No%2047%20Article%20Isithwalandwe.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://natalia.org.za/Files/47/Natalia%20No%2047%20Article%20Isithwalandwe.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |journal=Natalia |issue=47 |pages=43–46 |access-date=1 May 2020}} [http://natalia.org.za/Natalia/no47.html Natlia]</ref>

Because of the association with warriors and heroism, the [[Isitwalandwe Medal]] was created to honour those who had "made an outstanding contribution and sacrifice to the liberation struggle", that is, those who [[Internal resistance to apartheid|resisted the apartheid regime]] in [[South Africa]] (1949–1991) in various ways. Isitwalandwe means "the one who wears the plumes of the rare bird",<ref name=saho>{{cite web | title=Isitwalandwe / Seaparankoe the Highest Award of Honour, 1955 - 2014 | website=South African History Online | url=https://www.sahistory.org.za/archive/isitwalandwe-seaparankoe-highest-award-honour-1955-2014 | access-date=1 May 2020}}</ref> or blue crane.<ref name=natalia/>

The blue crane is also the [[national bird]] of South Africa.<ref name="DAC">{{Cite web |url=http://www.dac.gov.za/sites/default/files/NationalSymbols.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.dac.gov.za/sites/default/files/NationalSymbols.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |title=National Symbols  |website=The Department of Trade and Industry |access-date=2018-06-14}}</ref>