Rituals of the Anthills : Issues, Challenges and Prospects

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=90 BGCOLOR="#006699" TEXT="#080000" background="04afd5a3.jpg"> <bR> <div> <B>The Botanical Source</B></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=210 BGCOLOR="#FFCC66" TEXT="#080000" background="04bd2063.jpg"> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Botanical Source"><U><B><IMG SRC="107b8d140.png" border=0 width="141" height="20" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.thebotanicalsource.com/shop" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.thebotanicalsource.com/shop"><U><IMG SRC="11958d140.png" border=0 width="141" height="20" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id22.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="A wide range of indigenous seeds from Af"><U><IMG SRC="11948d140.png" border=0 width="141" height="20" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.thebotanicalsource.com/shop/index.php?cPath=28&osCsid=5d55fa2bee3df7b388a151625a1e9916" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.thebotanicalsource.com/shop/i"><U><IMG SRC="11938d140.png" border=0 width="141" height="20" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id28.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Articles about African indigenous healin"><U><IMG SRC="10828d140.png" border=0 width="141" height="20" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id20.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Contact Us"><U><IMG SRC="11928d140.png" border=0 width="141" height="20" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id23.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Photo Gallery"><U><IMG SRC="11918d140.png" border=0 width="141" height="20" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A></div> <div>   <script type="text/javascript" src="http://edge.quantserve.com/quant.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript">_qacct="p-41ZhKYiACxjoQ";quantserve();</script> <noscript> <a href="http://www.quantcast.com/p-41ZhKYiACxjoQ" target="_blank"><img src="http://pixel.quantserve.com/pixel/p-41ZhKYiACxjoQ.gif" style="display: none;" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt="Quantcast"/></a> </noscript>   </div> <div>  <script type="text/javascript"> var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www."); document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E")); </script> <script type="text/javascript"> var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-3741917-2"); pageTracker._initData(); pageTracker._trackPageview(); </script>  </div> </td> <td valign="top" height=390 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" background="04c03043.jpg"> <div> <B>Rituals of the Anthills : Issues, Challenges and Prospects</B></div> <div> By <I>Dr Mogomme Masoga</I>.</div> <div> <B>____________________________________________________________</B></div> <bR> <div> Debates on sacred sites, the sacredness of places, and perspectives of sacred sites are taking place throughout South Africa. The meaning and importance of these are debated, analysed, argued and explained. Common in this regard are terminologies such as space, locality and belonging. Nomenclatures like seolo (Sepedi), tshuka (Xitsonga), bohloa (Sesotho) and isiduli (isiZulu) are commonly used and carry various ritualistic meanings for different communities. This presentation focuses on the rituals that are associated with anthills and their implications, or rather challenges, for research in fields such as African Studies and Cultural Studies. The paper argues the importance of the environment in providing meaning and identity to human beings. The dislocation of people from their space of belonging not only displaces them physically, but also displaces them in a religious and philosophical sense. Anthills are used to perform rituals as a way of connecting, reconnecting, advancing, re-negotiating, re-appropriating and establishing an understanding with a spiritual space. They offer the suppliant the space and time to draw the ‘now reality’ more closely into contact with the spiritual space. The occupation of land presupposes the occupation of space, noting all its dimensions. This not only challenges one to revisit the concept of space and environment, but impels one to begin to deal with the ‘hermeneutics of land’ in a more serious light.  </div> <bR> <bR> <div> Introduction :</div> <bR> <div> This presentation is informed by three important experiences of the author over a period of time, in the field of rituals and ritual performances.  </div> <bR> <div> Perhaps the first that comes to mind is my recent visit (5–11 July 2003) to Kisumu, Kenya.2 I had the opportunity to visit the location of Seme, some kilometers outside Kisumu (which is a predominantly Luo village). I was taken to Kit Mikayi, popularly known as the ‘big rock’, about which a fascinating story is told. This is how it goes: </div> <bR> <div> There was once a man known as Onyango, who married three wives. (According to Luo custom, my informant explained, a man is allowed to marry as many wives as he is able, even as many as 30.) The first wife was called Ojuka, the second Achupa and the third Ogal. The husband loved Achupa and Ogal so dearly that he neglected Ojuka (the first wife), and never spent time in her hut. As a result, Ojuka rebelled and left the homestead to live alone in the bush. She cursed her husband and vowed that the ancestors would bring him tribulations. At the same time, she prayed to her ancestors that she be changed into a ghost. In those days (the story goes), the ancestors were very powerful and were able to perform miracles. Instead of changing her into a ghost to haunt her husband and his two wives, she was changed into a rock. </div> <bR> <div> Kit Mikayi has three rocky protrusions, which are said to represent Onyango’s homestead and his three wives. The rocky view has attracted many tourists, and I was reliably informed that the Kenyan government intends to build a homestead around the place to represent Onyango’s homestead.  </div> <bR> <div> Secondly, I am fascinated by the research data collected about Thaba ya Modimo O’ lle (God has devoured) (generally known as Modimolle), which is near Nylstroom. The observations were made during my fieldwork for my doctoral research. One of the divination oracles3 by a Mopedi diviner-healer (ngaka), Maamushi from Makgane, Ga-Sekhukhune in Limpopo province, used the following words: Ke nna mogolo ke kakatlela dithaba (‘I am the greatest in charge of mountains’). The diviner-healer thus praised himself in the course of the divination process. The opening of this praise-form divination explained and situated his potency in diving (Ke nna mogolo ke kakatlela dithaba). When I made further enquiries about the importance of mountains, Maamushi immediately informed me that mountains are associated with ancestral spirits and at times are regarded as a ‘haven’ for ancestral activities. For instance, as Maamushi pointed out, most Bapedi and Batlokwa go up the mountain to perform rituals to invoke the ancestors and plead with them to intervene in stopping the drought by bringing rain. Thaba ya Modimo O’ lle is surrounded by the following common belief system:  </div> <bR> <div> Go tloga kgale-kgale go be go sa swanela gore batho ba ye kgauswi le thaba ya Modimo O’lle. Ge motho a be a ka fihla gona, ka kgonthe o be a sa boe. Tumelo ke gore badimo le Modimo ba dula gona mo thabeng. Ga se tshwanelo ya gore ba tshwenywe ntle le ge e le bona na re tshwenyago.  </div> <bR> <div> Long, long ago, the living were not allowed to come close to the mountain. If a person happened to come close to the mountain, he or she would not return or be seen alive (Translation). </div> <bR> <div> “The belief system was that God and the ancestral spirits resided there and were not supposed to be disturbed at all. In this case, it was better to be bothered by the ancestral spirits than to bother them”, Maamushi explained. </div> <bR> <div> The third experience dates back to the ukuthwasa (literally, ‘to blossom’) times. In particular, Setiloane (2000:27) mentions that, “Go thwasa, properly understood, means ‘to blossom’, ‘to come to blossom’ like a flower, ‘to come into being’ like a year or month, or ‘to appear into view’ like the sun or moon.”  </div> <bR> <div> I recall the esoteric knowledge and skills in handling oracular tablets,4 which were imparted. I also recall the supervision that we were subjected to with regard to digging for and gathering herbs and administering medicines. We had to induce ancestral trances daily, and I was informed that a tired, old tired man spoke, and still speaks, through my mouth, asking for a stick to walk with. I was introduced to, or rather plunged into, the esoteric knowledge of divination along with my academic cultural baggage. Cox (1996:168) describes that as a diatopical situation, and I had to deal with it. The conversion (metanioa) helped me to sharpen my methodological analysis. It was not a mere confessional process, but part of my inner methodological realities. During the course of the diatopical hermeneutics, I changed and adapted my thinking. The process engaged a serious, open, critical and honest conversation, which ultimately led to a methodological conversation. It was during this time of thorough training and skilling that I became aware of the centrality of anthills in relation to healing, and initiating a healing. It dawned on me how important anthills are in negotiating meaning and in assisting suppliants and diviner-healers to negotiate meaning in this regard. </div> <bR> <div> This presentation argues in favour of the structured study and analysis of anthills within the ambit of Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS), as encapsulated by the framework adopted by the National Research Foundation’s IKS research support programme. The framework document states specifically that, “IK represents both a national heritage and a national resource, which should be promoted, developed and, where appropriate, exploited for the economic benefits of the majority. It covers all aspects of life and provides a rich resource for sustainable development … Three interacting systems (IK systems, biodiversity and cultural diversity) are threatened with extinction, as outsiders become increasingly aware of the value of IK”.  </div> <bR> <div> Given this set of aims, the presentation attempts to showcase the importance of land (or rather, the ‘hermeneutics of land’) within the discourse of rituals. It maintains that rituals should become central when dealing with issues of land ownership, and vice versa. Expressed differently, ritual practice seems to press one to deal with questions of land ownership. The presentation uses data collected during both during the doctoral fieldwork and when the presenter was a member of a special project team led by Mrs Penny Bernard. The latter focused on the protection of sacred sites in the Eastern Free State. Some of the special sites visited included: Lehaha la MmaNtsopa 5(‘the cave of MmaNtsopa’), Lehaha la Matita (‘the cave of Matita’) and the Clarens site called Badimong (‘the place of ancestors’).6 The research was conducted during the period 2000–mid 2002 (when I took up the position as manager of Indigenous Knowledge Systems at the National Research Foundation.) </div> <bR> <div> Ritual of anthills and space </div> <div>  </div> <div> As Mircea Eliade (1959:20) postulates, “for religious man, space is not homogenous, he experiences interruptions, breaks in it; some parts of space are qualitatively different from others”. The ritual experience started in 2001 when I had to negotiate re-connections with a patient who consulted my senior diviner-healer (gobela).7 During the process of bone divination, the patient was advised that he needed to re-negotiate and re-situate himself with his ancestors. A difficulty that was noted was that the patient was living far from his home in Limpopo province. He had come to the eastern Free State to work in a factory in Harrismith. The divining bones8 (tinhlolo/ditaola) indicated that the patient should perform a ritual of reconnection and re-situation in response to a strong plea from his ancestors that he re-unite with them. They complained that they had lost touch with him and had no channel for connecting with him. As a novice in the field, I had to consult my gobela for advice. In response, my gobela instructed that the divining bones be thrown and a solution be sought. We discovered that the ancestors instructed that an anthill be found and a ritual of re-unification and re-negotiation performed. It brought some relief to the patient to learn that his ancestors, who originated in Limpopo, could be re-connected with him and begin to engage with his new life experiences in the Free State. What follows is a detailed description of the ritual associated to anthills. </div> <bR> <bR> <div> Describing the process :</div> <div>  </div> <div> The patient, gobela and I set out by combi early one morning, at about 06:00, and drove east from Phuthaditjhaba. None of us had any idea about the actual anthill (termite mound) to be consulted for this specific ritual. The combi stopped along the roadside and we disembarked, leaving the driver to wait in the combi until the business was complete.  </div> <bR> <div> We searched the grassy area leading to the Basotho Cultural village for a suitable anthill. Gobela communicated to me the most important guideline for selecting a suitable anthill – the softer the soil, the better, as contains active, young termites. Fortunately, it did not take us long to find a suitable anthill.  </div> <bR> <div> We carried with us dikobo tsa badimo9 (‘ancestral clothes’), motsoko or lefola10 (‘snuff’), a small bowl of water, byala e leng dijo tsa badimo11 (‘indigenously brewed beer’) and kgomo ya badimo (‘a white chicken’).  </div> <bR> <div> When we reached the anthill, we immediately removed our shoes and clapped our hands three times. Gobela shouted, “Thobela badimo re a le lotsa”).12 We knelt down facing east, with the patient in the middle, and sang the praises of the diviner-healers. The patient then sang his own praises. The snuff (motsoko) was sprinkled on to the mound (seolong) in order to invoke the patient’s ancestors to send messengers to receive the patient’s plea. During this process, the ancestors of the diviner-healers (gobela and myself) were exhorted to unite with the patient’s ancestors in responding to the patient’s problems. Gobela took water in her mouth, held it there and then spat it out on to the mound three times.  </div> <bR> <div> A wooden instrument was used to dig up the top of the mound, and small termites came running out. Gobela smiled and indicated that the ancestors had agreed to listen to the patient’s pleas. Dikobo tsa badimo (the njeti cloth and plain white cloth) were immediately draped around the base of the mound. The kgomo ya badimo13(‘white chicken’) was brought forth, its throat was slit, and its blood was sprinkled on the opening in the mound. The patient was then asked to speak for himself (go ipolela)14 and implore his ancestors (including both those he knew and those he did not) to unite and intervene in his distressing situation. Byala (‘indigenously brewed beer’) was used, and was spat on to the mound, and the thicker liquid at the bottom of the bowl was thrown on top of the mound. With that, the process came to an end. </div> <bR> <bR> <div> 2.2. Critical reflections :</div> <bR> <div> It should be noted that the anthill becomes a central place around which communication between ancestors and the living takes place. Moreover, ancestors are said to be centrally located within the anthill. It is important to note the communion between ancestors and the living, and how this communion is used to address to human pleas and problems. The distance between the patient’s home and his place of work does not become an issue at all in this case, since the two far removed places are brought together by the ‘space and time of the anthill’. Ancestors are said to be even closer to human beings than human beings are to one another.  </div> <bR> <div> The shape of the anthill deserves comment. Its protruding shape emphasises the importance of cycle, as well as the ‘protrusion’ experienced by pregnant women. It is necessary to add that anthills are used to treat pregnant women experiencing birth problems, with soil from the anthill prescribed together with other medicinal mixtures to ease pain.  </div> <bR> <div> One respondent (Mrs Dladla in Phuthadithjaba) noted the small room dug to hide the dead body in Sepedi funeral ritual, and pointed out its strong connection with the anthill. The small room is symbolically understood to represent the womb of a woman. It is believed that the deceased is being re-planted and will grow once more. This links with African philosophy around life after death.  </div> <bR> <div> It becomes central to note that the patient’s life and identity are intimately connected with the soil, thus raising the hermeneutics of land and land ownership. Ritual (as observed in the ritual described) reinforces the sense of belonging and identity. One is able to connect with one’ ancestors regardless of one’s distance from home. African rituals cannot be understood without a strong sense of land ownership and belonging. The ritual performance offers the suppliant a sense of belonging.  </div> <bR> <div> It would be interesting to investigate how the forced removals of apartheid and the creation of homeland structures affected most African communities. Obviously, the damage was not related to economic impact alone, but also to the spiritual impact on communities. Many spirits are still wondering and striving to make connection. Many of the forced removals pushed African communities out of their spiritual and philosophical space/s, which, according to most respondents, created ‘unstable communities’. It is interesting how many local communities, despite the devastating forced removals, still strive to re-connect with their spiritual realities and move on in life.  </div> <bR> <div> Research is still required among migrant labourers to establish how they appropriated their African ritual activities when they found themselves in the context of city life and its global challenges. The same challenge relates to ‘maids’, who in the ‘limiting spiritual spaces’ of their back rooms (buite kamers) devised the means of re-connecting and finding other meanings of belonging in such ritually stifling contexts.  </div> <bR> <div> One of the respondents I engaged with, Mrs Stella Makatu (a retired domestic worker), is a spiritual healer (morapelli), who has spent her entire life in Park Town, Johannesburg. She confirmed that she used anthills to re-connect with her ancestors. She used to keep ‘holy water’ (metsi a thapelo) under the steel bed in her back room and took her patients out to the veld to perform rituals on anthills, which were appropriate sites for conducting rituals of re-connection. Mrs Makatu shared with me a common expression that was used at the time: o se ke wa rotela seolo o tla se bona se o se nyakang (‘never urinate on an anthill, or you will suffer the consequences’). This shows how important anthills have become, and that taboos were formulated around their protection.  </div> <bR> <bR> <div> Conclusion :</div> <div>  </div> <div> In conclusion, this presentation has shown the importance of rituals of anthills and their relevance for post-apartheid South Africa. Anthills certainly offer issues, challenges and prospects for further research.   </div> <bR> <bR> <div> Sources consulted :</div> <bR> <div> Asante, M.K. 1980. Afrocentricity:the Theory of Social Change. Washington DC: FAS Pinting. </div> <bR> <div> Ayisi, E.P. 1980. An Introduction to the Study of African Culture. London: Heinemann. </div> <bR> <div> Coplan, D.B. [S.a.]. Land from the Ancestors: Popular Religious Re-Appropriating along the South Africa–Lesotho Border. </div> <bR> <div> Cox, J.L. 1992. Expressing the Sacred: an Introduction to the Phenomelogy of Religion. Harare: University of Zimbabwe Publications. </div> <bR> <div> Cox, J.L. 1994. ‘Religious studies by the religious: a discussion of the relationship between theology and the science of religion, Journal for the Study of Religion, 7(2):3–31. </div> <bR> <div> Cox, J.L. 1996. ‘Methodological considerations relevant to understanding African indigenous religions, In Africa: Past, Present and Prospects. Cambridge, UK: Roots and Branches. </div> <bR> <div> Douglas, M. 1966. Purity and Danger: an Analysis of the Concepts of Pollution and Taboo. London: Routledge. </div> <bR> <div> Eliade, M. 1959. The Sacred and the Profane. Harcourt: Brace and World. </div> <bR> <div> Eliade, M. (ed.) 1987. The Encyclopaedia of Religion, 12. New York: Macmillan. </div> <bR> <div> Hammond-Tooke, D. 1989. Rituals and Medicines. Johannesburg: AD Jonker. </div> <bR> <div> Harrison, J.E. 1913. Ancient Art and Ritual. London: Williams and Norgate. </div> <bR> <div> Makgopa, M. 2002. People’s Science Voice Newsletter, 1, October–December. National Research Foundation. </div> <bR> <div> Masolo, D.A. 1994. African Philosophy in Search of Identity. Indiana: Indiana University Press. </div> <bR> <div> Mbiti, J.S. 1969. African Religions and Philosophy. London: Heinemann. </div> <bR> <div> Mbiti, J.S. 1970. African Religions and Philosophy. London: Heinemann. </div> <bR> <div> Parkin, D. 1991. ‘Simultaneity and sequencing in the oracular speech of Kenyan diviners’, In African Divination Systems: Ways of Knowing. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 173–189. </div> <bR> <div> Peek, P.M. (ed.) 1991. African Divination Systems: Ways of Knowing. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press. </div> <bR> <div> Peek, P.M. 1991. ‘The study of present and past’, In: African Divination Systems: Ways of Knowing. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1–22. </div> <bR> <div> Setiloane, G.M. 1986. African Theology: an Introduction. Johannesburg: Skotaville. </div> <bR> <div> Setiloane, G.M. 2000. African Theology: an Introduction. Braamfontein: Lux Verbi. </div> <bR> <div> Shorter, A. 1975. Prayers in the Religious Tradition of Africa. Nairobi/Dar es Salaam: Oxford University Press. </div> <bR> <div> Turner, V. 1970. The Ritual Process: Structure and Antistrusture. Ithaca, NY: Cornel University Press. </div> <bR> <div> Van Binsbergen, W. 1991. ‘On becoming a sangoma’, Journal of Religion in Africa, 21(4): 309–344. </div> <bR> <div> Whyte, S.R. 1991. ‘Knowledge and Power in Nyole Divination’, In African Divination Systems: Ways of Knowing. 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