The Sunday News
THE month of August is a very significant month for many people. Besides the school holidays and the Heroes and Defence Forces days it is a month or time of remembrance for many people.
This is a month when there are a great many memorial services or imibuyiso ceremonies. For others it is a time of initiation ceremonies into the craft and art of the spiritual ukuthwasiswa not to mention also that it is a time of various graduation ceremonies as well. Our concern though in this day will be to interrogate the spiritual aspect of these activities.
Strangely also the First World War began in August while the Second World War ended in August! But what is so celestially unique about this month? There is a lot we can find out.
This is the eighth month of the year which is the month of new beginnings which comes after the month of thanksgiving. It is a month when we see certain issues that people believe and at times do without much thinking yet it has deep thoughts about it. I want to begin at the fact that many Africans take this month and link it to the sighting of the isilimela or Pleiades constellation of stars that are at times seen at the break of winter and ushering of the new season. This is a group of stars that are very bright and fiery which are seen only once in a year. They are then used as the marker of growth and development.
This group of young, hot stars was always observed in the early morning sky and indicated the time for tilling the ground for the next plough. This was preparation time. It also indicated the time for initiating the boys into manhood, forgive me ladies womanhood was marked by yet another celestial feature the moon which is a subject for another talk. If we included it here it would make this article too pregnant! The manhood years are counted by these stars.
In a way, these hot young stars symbolize a new beginning for an initiate. So a young man when he has just come out of initiation, is not only perceived as a new person but he is also regarded somehow, to be spiritually connected to the stars and can now better communicate with the spiritual ancestors which are roaming among the stars.
A human being in the eyes of an African is not an object that is purely material but very spiritual. To be spiritual is therefore linked or identified with the heavens or celestial beings or gatherings. Therefore at birth, maturity and even death an association is made with the stars or other celestial features. Our African languages are rich in those expressions. So when one is born again in the African religious sense one would have relinked themselves with a line or arrangement of celestial features that create a new cycle for his or her life. An Inyanga is essentially such a person whose whole life cycle is ordered by these celestial features. Just like an initiate an Inyanga then links his or herself with isilimela to join the constellation because it is there that he will understand those abaPhambili who are the connection to oPhezulu! August then is such a month when the isilimela is seen and therefore it marks a new turn in the cycle.
At the same time we can bring to remembrance those that passed on before. We cannot use indonsakusa or ikhwezi to mark this cycle as these stars are daily we need an annual one hence isilimela is handy.
Let me digress and just take an age old expression that our elderly women would always admonish the young not to do. It is said “ . . . akumelanga ubone indonsakusa nkazana!” or “ . . .waze wangibonisa indonsakusa!” (One should not see the morning star . . . or he made me see the morning star) on the other hand we Christians refer to Jesus as the Bright Morning Star. All this is linked to the rising of a new day and the fact that our cycle is measured by these heavenly beings. Back to the indonsakusa. One can only see this star when you look up early in the morning. It was a warning of sleeping over at your lover’s side or abode until this time of the morning. Why was it a warning? It was so because husband and wife were never meant to sleep in one bed all night, continuous touching would dull the axe.
She only went to the side when duty called and went back to her side or place across the hearth never to see indonsakusa while in the arms of her man. Such was a bad omen. For others it was an expression of the strength and performance of the partner. He lasted until the morning. Stars, stars stars dear reader had a lot to tell us then and now. Today we just do these things without any deep understanding of their salient spiritual relevance.
So here we are now in August so full with memorial ceremonies and other religious ceremonies we cannot ignore that there is a link with what we as Africans believe or for some of us used to believe. That is what we are and will be but we need to understand it more from where it began. Doing anything with understanding is wisdom and it makes it easier to change, adjust or even discard off. Knowledge is power. So as you get into the holiday activities do not ignore the spiritual implications and may your prayers be guided accordingly as well. You cannot wish it away, it is reality.
There is more than meets the eye in the manner we behave. We will look at the meats and foods we eat at these ceremonies and how they link with the spiritual. The only thing that is not spiritual is the unspiritual which means all is spiritual. We cannot ignore that. So till next week drive and celebrate with God, Shalom!
