The Sunday News
Pathisa Nyathi
A CATTLE byre carried a lot of spirituality that was attended by various rituals and taboos. Spirituality among the Ndebele was a functional phenomenon. The ancestral spirits were not summoned during the umbuyiso ceremony so that they could laze around in 5-star hotels. For dereliction of duty they were chastised. Their duty was to protect their living progeny. They were the intermediaries between their living progeny and God.
We have stated it before that the need to attain continuity was a prime consideration among Africans in general. The concept of continuity was expressed in more ways than one: the visual art and its decorative designs such as circles and chevron symbols, folklore, language, notably proverbs, design of artefacts and architecture, inter alia (see Nyathi and Chikomo, Echoes From The Past: Interpreting Decorative Symbols In Zimbabwe, forthcoming).
The Ndebele will say, “Ukwanda kwaliwa ngumthakathi.” Witches do not like to see the numbers of people multiplying. They will also say, “Ukuzala yikuzelula.” To give birth to children is to add to oneself. Both proverbs apparently, capture the idea of eternity. The ancestral spirits’ role is to counter the activities of witches who seek to cause illness and even death. What the Africans seek is to increase the population of their progeny, occupy more territory and extend their lineages into the future. This is what the concept of eternity, infinity and immortality seeks to accomplish.
The cattle byre is therefore important as the abode of or place where the living and the living-dead meet. No wonder the men of the village controlled this important spiritual space. Men of the village held their social gatherings near the cattle byre, making the space a male domain. The village head went up to the cattle byre early in the morning to pass out urine and check on his herd. Food was taken there where the men consumed it. In days gone by men gathered in the same space to smoke dagga/hemp (ukubhema igudu).
The phrase, “indaba esegudwini,” refers to the matter, (indaba) that men discuss when they are smoking dagga. Even at death this was space for the interment of the head of village. In both life and death the men kept guard over this important space, to ensure it was not accessed by the womenfolk. As pointed out in earlier articles, the cattle themselves were not to be handled by women. A bride was allowed into the cattle byre in the company of her father or brother in order for her to undergo a ritual known as ukuphehlelwa isithundu.
A woman’s menstruation was given as the reason for her exclusion. The cattle were doctored, (ukuthuswa, ukubaswa). The efficacy of the medication was thought to be diminished through contact with a menstruating woman. The men did not bother to explain how the efficacy of the medical formulations was compromised. We need to explain why Africans seemed to believe menstruation countered the successful holding of rituals.
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We know that Africans regarded blood as a source of life — as long as it was within the blood vessels. The blood that came out as menstrual flow is no longer within the blood vessels. It is devoid of life, it is lifeless blood. It is blood that now symbolises death, the antithesis of life. Here we are once again face to face with the desired idea of continuity which implies continuing life at lineage level. Individuals perish but humanity is forever. Menstrual blood should thus be seen as negating the concept of continuity in a symbolic manner. It is clear from observation that it was not women per se who were being discriminated against. Rather it was their condition.
Indeed, the younger girls, still at the pre-puberty stage and therefore not yet experiencing menstruation, were treated differently from their mothers. Similarly, women beyond menopause were equally treated differently. These were the women who used to brew beer for rituals such as rain making at shrines such as Njelele, Manyangwa, Zhilo, Ntogwa(at Ramakgwebana in Botswana) and Manyanga.
Just in case some people think it was menstruating women who were regarded as taboo during rituals, men too faced similar taboos. Indulging in sex intercourse was also regarded as imparting spiritual impurity on the participants.
Men were not allowed to engage in sexual encounters when they went to war. It was believed their condition of spiritual impurity made them vulnerable to attacks or bad luck. Medicines such as intelezi had their efficacy negated and, as a result, spears of the enemy targeted the defiled man’s body.
Certainly this sort of explanation is inadequate for one like me. In fact, no interpretation has been given. We need to understand African ideas relating to sex and, in particular, why it is a defiling act that was taboo especially before the conduct of rituals or engaging in hunts and wars. This calls for a consideration of several beliefs pertaining to sex.
One day we are going to come up with a plausible interpretation which is in line with African thought and cosmology.
Of course, we should go beyond perceiving sexual intercourse as a physical encounter. It was equally a spiritual intercourse which negated the spiritual intentions behind a particular activity. The search continues.
When the ancestral spirits were being propitiated consideration of where the beast was slaughtered was important. In the pre-colonial period the arrangement of the homestead was such that the cattle byre was fringed by the huts in a circular arrangement. The senior hut, the one belonging to the senior wife, was directly opposite the entrance (isango). The upper section that is near umdlunkulu is where the beast was slaughtered. Whoever was the officiator abstained from sexual activity the day before he performed the ritual killing of the beast.
Further, fire was not lit in that hut. Once again, we are confronted with a situation where interpretation is demanded.
Our thrust in matters such as these is to seek for the cosmological underpinnings rather than being content with the mechanical narration of cultural practices. How do Africans, the Ndebele in particular, perceive fire? Is the fire that is burning within a fire place not symbolic of a sexual act? Perhaps we need to pursue the matter further next week to appreciate the symbolism at play here. To understand the African is to understand his cosmology.
