The Zulu’s are a people native to the KwaZuluNatal province of South Africa. This tribe was once a mighty warrior nation and descendents of the patriarch Zulu, the son of a Cape Nguni chief in the Congo basin. Zulu people began to migrate towards the present location in Natal during the sixteenth century. A vital point in Zulu history is the reign of a Zulu king named Shaka from 1816 to 1828 who united the disorganized existing clans into one powerful tribe. He formed a strict and disciplinarian army who was successful in defeating the British colonizers until 1906. Many aspects of the military influence from the Shaka reign are reflected in today’s society through rituals such as stick fighting (umshiza). In ceremonies such as this one, traditional healers play extremely meaningful roles.
South Africa has a strong emphasis on health, harmony, and balance as it is seen in the practices of traditional healing systems. Healing among the Zulu centers on uMvelinqangi (God), the amadlozi (ancestors), nature, and how a traditional healer, in western terminology, connects to these forces in a profound manner. The traditional healer is always a person of great respect in the community and a medium between the uMvelinqangi and the amadlozi. People who visit the spiritual healer must engage with the community in a beneficial way that shows ones efforts to restore order and balance within the self and the community. Throughout history, the traditional healers have played many roles within Zulu society. The three main types of healers are the inyanga (traditional doctor/herbalist), the isangoma (diviner/counselor), and the umthandazi (faith healer).
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South Africa has a strong emphasis on health, harmony, and balance as it is seen in the practices of traditional healing systems. Healing among the Zulu centers on uMvelinqangi (God), the amadlozi (ancestors), nature, and how a traditional healer, in western terminology, connects to these forces in a profound manner. The traditional healer is always a person of great respect in the community and a medium between the uMvelinqangi and the amadlozi. People who visit the spiritual healer must engage with the community in a beneficial way that shows ones efforts to restore order and balance within the self and the community. Throughout history, the traditional healers have played many roles within Zulu society. The three main types of healers are the inyanga (traditional doctor/herbalist), the isangoma (diviner/counselor), and the umthandazi (faith healer).
Zulu Diviner
Inyanga is usually a male who has gone through a period of training with an accomplished inyanga for at least one year. They typically use amakhambi (herbal medicines) for immunization, tonic, and preventative measures, body cleanser, laxatives, among other things. Another type of traditional healer is the isangoma who is chosen by the spiritual realm to be a sangoma after a life transforming experience (ukuthwasa). It is usually a woman that shares knowledge of medicine with the inyanga. Also, it is during the ukuthwasa, a transforming experience such as a seizure or a near death experience, that the person communicates with entities of the spiritual realm that inform her or him what needs to be done. Following this experience, the person goes to study under an accomplished isangoma who diagnosis illness through communicating with the amadlozi (ancestral spirits). The third traditional healer is th umthandazi (faith healer) who has the ability to prophesize, heal and divine using prayer, holy water, baths, enemas and steaming baths. It has become a complicated part of the combination of traditional Afrikan religion and Christianity.
Color symbolism in Zulu medicine is an important part of healing. The significant symbolic colors are black (mnyama), red (bomvu), and white (mhlophe) which are used in this order. Black and red represent both bad and good, while white represents only what is good. Treatment with these medicines is intended to establish a balance between a person and the environment.
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Woman from Cape Nguni
Oral evidence suggests that the Cape Nguni and the Zulu were originally one people during a certain period of time before settling in different places in South Africa. The Cape Nguni occupied the eastern seaboard of the southern part of Africa. For this reason, Cape Nguni and Zulu healing often overlap and use some of the same systems.
The Cape Nguni amagqira (a healer-diviner) or the amaxhwele (herbalist) is the equivalent of a shaman in the west. The South African media designates the term isangoma (as in Zulu healing) to refer to both diviners and herbalists. The Cape Nguni herbalist shares with other herbalists around the world a comprehensive knowledge of local plants and their properties, which can be learned by anyone who would like to. Like that of the diviner, their instruction and training, begins with a call from the ancestral spirits to undergo the necessary rites of passage under a practicing herbalist. Another kind of healer is the nolugxana, who are uninitiated novice diviners that utilize their acquired skills and knowledge as healing. There are a number of specialist diviners including omniscient diviners, ventriloquists, revealers, appeal diviners, bone diviners, extractors, and mirror diviners who help with numerous kinds of illnesses. In addition to this, the Cape Nguni have witch finders who specialize in scrutinizing a client’s social, business, or neighbors for bad intent.
The initiation of the Cape Nguni diviner begins with inwaso, a state similar to spirit possession. The individual is afflicted by personal problems or troubles or somatic emotional states. The patient is overwhelmed by dreams and visions including animals and then develops healing powers. Once this process is finished, a diviner examines the patient. As servants of the ancestors, diviners analyze through divination the causes or origins of specific events and interpret their messages. Although their role is mostly that of divination, they also provide medication for many of the problems they diagnose.
Traditionally, the Cape Nguni worship a supreme being known as uThixo, but because this is seen as remote from the world of everyday life, people turn to ancestral spirits instead. The spirits pass through almost every aspect of traditional Cape Nguni life and social space, supplying prosperity and protection, and withholding their blessings when angered. On occasion, the noncompliant are afflicted with illness and other misfortunes.
