The Sunday News
LAST week we did allude to the myriad of metaphors that reside in the hearth. These are metaphors that are used to traverse the taboo-riddled cultural terrain. Whereas all along we have been dealing with the tangible aspects of a hut, it is important to unravel its intangible aspects. This is what we have started doing.
We had indicated the metaphorical meaning of the depression that constitutes the hearth and the firewood. Beyond their physical or material existence these items do carry some intangible aspects which are culturally intelligible within the Ndebele community. It is socialisation or enculturation which ensures this. It was indicated also that the items in question carry sexual metaphors and symbolism.
Let us pursue the firewood-based sexual language that may be used to convey messages that would otherwise carry the taboo tag. It has been observed that a daughter-in-law, in the presence of her mother-in-law repeatedly stokes the fire. She does this continuously in order to attract the attention of her mother-in-law. Essentially, what the communicator of sexual messages is doing is push the firewood forward, ukukhwezela, repeatedly, instead of doing it once. Repetition is calculated to draw attention of her mother-in-law.
Recently, while making a presentation to the National University of Science and Technology (Nust) Built Environment (Architecture) students at Amagugu International Heritage Centre (AIHC) I posed a question on the meaning of the act by the daughter-in-law. The question came after some preliminary introduction to the subject where a few examples of hearth-related issues had been furnished. By this time some students were able to figure out the underlying messages conveyed in cultural non-verbal communication.
A response came thick and fast. “It is either happening or not happening.” The “it” was understood to refer to the sexual act. That was correct but the message was specific, in other words there was no scope for either or. So I had to render some further guidance. When “it” is happening is there need to be communicating that? Is there an issue or we assume all is well as ought to happen? When the daughter-in-law is getting her conjugal rights does she need to communicate this to her mother-in-law?
The choice was clear. The daughter-in-law will communicate a situation that is abnormal, a situation where she is denied her conjugal rights. The mother-in-law, schooled into the same metaphorical meanings, would correctly interpret the non-verbal communication. She knew well that she had a responsibility to communicate the message to those concerned so that corrective measures might be instituted. Happiness and contentedness should return to the couple’s sexual relationship — characterised by raging erotic fires.
Let us now introduce a seemingly different metaphor relating to raging fires. We have seen the metaphor of raging fires in the context of sexual life for a married couple. Burning wood will also carry the metaphor of conflict in human relations. Apparently, there is some similarity between the sexual act and social conflict. Conflict is a common theme to both, albeit with one conflict a sweet one while the other is painful. But then conflict is conflict be it sweet or otherwise.
Conflict as represented by fire is an important metaphor whose application is found in numerous cultural situations. The Ndebele however noted that after a fire has burnt out ash is all that remains: cold as ash. The resulting ash as we shall see carries a lot of metaphorical meaning. Conflict is a socially undesirable situation, be it between individuals, groups, communities or nations. At community level measures are taken to restore equilibrium in human relations.
Ash represents peace. It is cold and results from a conflict (burning) situation. It is for this reason that ash is used for reconciliation and ultimately attainment of peace — a desired state in inter-human and inter-group relations. Beyond the fact that ash is cool and therefore representative of peace, it is a product of an irreversible chemical reaction. When wood burns, (conflict taking place) ash, water vapour, carbon dioxide, tar and other products are produced.
What the Ndebele observed was that the reaction was irreversible. One could not remake the wood from its products of combustion. This idea was made use of in a ritual of reconciliation known as ukukhumelana umlotha (please note that it is not ukukhumisana umlotha). Literally, that means they have made peace with each other.
Ash came into play in that the two individuals with broken relations are made to stand on a midden isilotha (a mound of ash outside the homestead where ash and other waste from the home are deposited). The two, hitherto not on talking terms, stand facing each other with an arbiter separating them. The arbiter asks them to commit themselves to making irreversible reconciliation. The ritual does not proceed until the arbiter has extracted irrevocable commitment from the two individuals. The ritual, after all, is about an irreversible process as exemplified by the formation of ash.
When the two commit themselves to reconciliation and the resulting peace (their conflict, akin to burning fire, has run full cycle and resulted in the formation of ash which is cool and peaceful and irreversible) the ritual proceeds. The arbiter places some ash in a piece of gourd, ugebhezi into which he adds water and stirs the mixture. The individuals being reconciled are made to sip a bit of the mixture and spit on to the ground, in reality ground that is covered with ash. The next sip is swallowed. The spitting out represents the abandonment of a past untenable relationship. Swallowing the mixture is symbolic of internalisation of a new and desirable relationship of reconciliation and the resulting peace.
For the first time the hitherto warring individuals shake hands and exchange greetings. From now on they may visit each other at their homes and jointly attend social functions within the community. Ash has thus been used to facilitate reconciliation and peace. Individuals and community members subscribe to the metaphor of the ash and honour the irreversibility of burning wood. From ash wood cannot be recreated. Such observed natural phenomena are made use of in cultural contexts for the good of the community.
Let us end this instalment by referring to the other use of ash. Once the umbilical cord of a newly born baby has been severed the resulting wound had ash applied to it. That, it was believed, would facilitate healing of the scar. Here is a case where ash once more is used to attain healing. Ash, therefore, is culturally important in the attainment of reconciliation, healing and peace.
We shall pursue further the metaphorical applications and significance of ash in other cultural contexts within the ambit of Ndebele rituals in particular.
