THE WAY OF THE ANCESTORS By Rebecca Rogerson 93282 words Rebecca Rogerson 2017

368 Pages·2017·4.43 MB·English

by  Rebecca Rogerson

THE WAY OF THE ANCESTORS
By
Rebecca Rogerson
93,282 words

Rebecca Rogerson 2017
TABLE OF CONTENTS

Creative Portion of Thesis -- Section A

Glossary
In Praise of the Ancestors – Kunene Poem
Preface
PART ONE – Mnyama- Black
Chapter One – Carrying the Load
Chapter Two - Miasmatic Deluges: Drowning in Initiation
Chapter Three – What the Dead Remember
Chapter Four – Bloodied Knees. A Baby in the ‘Prayer Way’
Chapter Five – The New Arrival: Talking to ‘the Bones’
Chapter Six –Learning How Chickens Should Die, and Babies Should ‘Drop’
Chapter Seven - Plants Ashes: Changing Times and ‘Changed People”
Chapter Eight –White (Workin’- Class) Settlers: Cadillacs, Crown Royale and Death
Premonitions
Chapter Nine - Grandmother Healers: First Kisses and Imagined Witches
Chapter Ten – The Strong Woman’s Song
Chapter Eleven –Spilled Manischewitz Wine and Chewed Chicken Bones
Chapter Twelve –The Befallen, Intergenerational Trauma and Remembering with
Ancestors
Chapter Thirteen – Mostly Cured
Chapter Fourteen – Digging for Muthi: Cold Orange Fanta and a Double Homicide
Chapter Fifteen – Teach Them to Remember
PART TWO – Bomvu - Red
Chapter Sixteen – A Chance Meeting with a Pipe Smoking Nuclear Physicist in Calcutta
Chapter Seventeen – Question and Answer Period (with a Deceased) Mother Theresa
Chapter Eighteen –Government AIDS Clinics, Bacon-Wrapped Scallops, a Glass of Merlot,
and Other Inequalities
Chapter Nineteen –Legacies of Prophecies
Chapter Twenty – A Missing Donkey, An Almost Evaded Murder-Rap, Ghosts Bothering
Children, and the Struggles of a Crack Addict: All in a Day’s Work!
Chapter Twenty-One –Healing the ‘Un-Healable’
Chapter Twenty-Two – A Stream Can Wear a Mountain Down
Chapter Twenty-Three – Try Not to Go into Labour When Enraptured
Chapter Twenty-Four – Blood Thirsty Battles, Lost Souls and Colonial Reckonings
Chapter Twenty-Five – The Meeting of a Misogynist Ancestor and My Baby Girl
Chapter Twenty-Six – Botswana Bound
Chapter Twenty-Seven – Institutionalized Homophobia, George W. Bush and the Eras
Before the Vikings
Chapter Twenty-Eighty – A Lost (but retrievable) Love Story Between the People and the
Plants
PART THREE – Mhlope - White
Chapter Twenty-Nine –Fireflies, Violence Against Children, and the Global North
Chapter Thirty – The Perpetual Calling: Callings Within Callings
Chapter Thirty-One –Dungamanzi: The One Who Stirs Waters
Chapter Thirty-Two – Ngihawukele Thonga Lami – Have Mercy on me, Ancestors!
Chapter Thirty-Three – Our Children are Our Ancestors
Chapter Thirty-Four – A Pipe Ceremony for my Dead Father in the Atrium of Barrie’s
Royal Victoria Regional Hospital
Chapter Thirty-Five – Rezar a Los Santos, Pray to the Saints
Chapter Thirty-Six –Birthing, Breastmilk and Body Memory: Navigating Canals and
Surfacing’s
Chapter Thirty-Seven –Pieces, Particles and Perpetuity
Chapter Thirty-Eight –Panic and Terror: The Feared Madness of Channeling Spirits
Chapter Thirty-Nine –Poisons of Our Making, Drinking Sea Water and Transmittal Energy
with Wild Animals
Chapter Forty– Nations Built on the Backs of Other Mothers
Chapter Forty-One – “One Story and One Message has Many Things to Tell”
Epilogue
References
Glossary
All words are in Zulu unless otherwise stated.
Amadlozi (plural,) iDlozi (singular): Refers to lineal, foreign and collective ancestors. In
this account, it also refers to an ecstatic state or trance, “having A/madlozi.”
Amathambo: Throwing the bones is an indigenous-knowledge system used for diagnosis,
and identifying: causation, prevention strategies, and steps for rectification to ultimately
restore balance and harmony for the individual, and in their interrelationships. The bones
include animal bones and other sacred items, many are obtained throughout the training
process.
Baba: Father, a term often used by a healing apprentice towards his/her teacher.
Badimo: Setswana for ancestors
Bakkie: Afrikaans word for small truck
Bheka: Look
Dagga: wild marijuana
Futha: Steaming for ritual purposes
Geza: To wash
Gobela: The traditional healing teacher
Hamba: go
Hawu/ouw: A South African-ism to express shock or amazement
Heyoka: The clown or backwards people often associated with the thunder beings. Heyoka
is associated with specific teachings and medicine in many Indigenous belief systems
throughout the Americas.
Indumba: Sacred healing space for the ancestors
Ingozi: danger
Impepho: A sacred herb used to invoke or calm the ancestors
Intwaso: The healing student’s sickness that manifests in a multitude of ways. The student
finds wellness through the process of answering the calling to heal.
Inyanga (singular,) izinyanga (plural): Herbalist. A type of traditional South African
healer.
Inyongo: Goat gall bladder, a powerful medicine worn by graduated Izangoma.
Isangoma (singular) Izangoma (plural): A type of traditional South African healer, a
practitioner of Ngoma.
Kaffir: A racist term for a black South African.
Khanga: Traditional fabric worn by traditional healers
Lobola: A bride offering/s for the union of both families.
A/makhosi: King or chief, a term of respect used by specific traditional healers when
referring to themselves and each other.
Imbiza (singular,) izimbiza (plural): A herbal preparation for drinking.
Malume: Uncle
Mfiso/s, umgaco timfiso: Medicine pouch filled necklaces worn only by the healing
apprentice, or graduate.
Moya: Spirit
Mpande: Meaning root, refers to the closely bound group of healers that come from a
common core understanding, treatment and training. Healers belonging to an mpande are
seen to come from the same “root”, and seen as Izangoma family.
Muthi: Traditional medicine mixture
Ngaka ya ditaola: Setswana for bone thrower or diviner
Nkulunkulu: The great, great one. Creator
Pahla: To pray or make offerings
Panga: A machete or large blade
Pap: A maize-based staple food, often prepared as a think or thick porridge
Pantsula: A style of dance which also incorporates style and identity, much like hip hop
music and culture in the United States.
Phansi: Down
Phalaza/o: To vomit with a ritual emetic
Sjambok: A rubber whip
Shebeens: Local, often unlicensed bars that are hubs of activity predominantly in
townships.
Skinner: gossip/gossiping
Spaza: South African slang for a local shop
Takkies: Running shoes
Thokoza: Praise, joyfulness, be happy, give thanks, or rejoice. The word is mainly used as
a term of respect among or towards Izangoma in greeting, prayer, praise, or agreement. To
a lesser degree, it also refers to specific ancestors a healer may work with or “have.” This is
particularly the case for some Swazi and Shangaani thokoza/takoza Izangoma.
Thwasa (singular) (u) thwasana (plural): The traditional healing apprentice.
Tsotsi’s: Criminals or “thugs”
Gogo (singular) uGogo (plural): Grandmother/s. Also, a term many healers use when
referring to one another.
uButhakathi: A creature which is said to inflict harm and illness. Thakathi is also
commonly used to denote witchcraft, or ill-intent.
uKufihlelwa: Searching for hidden items with ancestral guidance.
uKuthwasa/Ukuthwasana: The apprenticeship process
uKuphothula: The healer’s graduation
uMhlungu: white woman
uMkhonto: Spear
uMqombothi: Traditional beer
Yebo: Yes, or I am in agreement
Vetkoek: An Afrikaans word. A fried dumpling or donut
Woza: Come
In Praise of the Ancestors
...The ancestors have come to listen to our songs,
Overjoyed they shake their heads in ecstasy.
With us they celebrate their eternal life.
They climb the mountain with their children
To put the symbol of the ancient stone on its forehead.
we honour those who gave birth to us,
With them we watch the spectacle of the moving mists.
They have opened their sacred book to sing with us.
They are the mystery that envelops our dream.
They are the power that shall unite us.
They are the strange truth of the earth.
They came from the womb of the universe.
Restless they are, like a path of dreams.
Like a forest sheltering the neighbouring race of animals.
Yes, the deep eye of the universe is in our chest.
With it we stare at the centers of the sky.
We sing the anthems that celebrate their great eras,
For indeed life does not begin with us. - Mazisi Kunene