730 Xhosa
class among the people. The sangoma in her or his
function as healer, diviner, mediator, herbalist,
philosopher, and prophet maintains the society’s
customs and traditions. Among the Xhosa, many
of the sangoma are females who must study for at
least 5 to 10 years to become “certified” as a san-
goma. It is not an easy profession to acquire, and
one must be devoted and dedicated to every aspect
of the history of the people to be successful.
Therefore, it is expected that the sangoma will
understand the history of the people, psychologi-
cal problems, environmental issues, relationship
challenges, the cycles of nature, and the origin of
the universe.
The Xhosa people believe that their history is
replete with many heroes. They have had a long
history of engagement with other ethnic groups,
the land, animals, and spiritualists, and out of
these experiences have come grand narratives of
victory and consciousness of unity. They say that
the original human, named Tshawe, was the
father of all Xhosa, although their name is derived
from uXhosa.
Because the people have such a powerful his-
tory of heroes, it is understandable that they have
a great sense of oral praises delivered on many
occasions by a praise singer. The Imbongi, or
praise singer, is one of the central components of
community solidarity. The limbongi, praise
singers, usually live near the king’s house. They
are always found at events that are historically,
politically, or socially important. Whenever
Nelson Mandela traveled to a place or gave an
important speech, the imbongi was there to speak.
The poetry of the imbongi is called isibongo,
which are praises for the masterful actions of the
military leaders, hunters, political leaders, kings,
and ancestors. Thus, the isibongo are used to
instill the values that are a part of the community.
The Xhosa believe that the Supreme Deity is
uThixo, who may also be called uQamata. But
the supreme deity does not act alone. Ancestors
are a mainstay in all Xhosa gatherings, and the
understanding of the people is that, without ritu-
als to honor and revere the ancestors, the lives of
the living would be terrible because of sickness,
disaster, and chaos. Therefore, to ward off evil, it
is important to hold ceremonies, rituals, initia-
tions, and festivals in honor of the ancestors.
One of the stories told by Nelson Mandela is
that, when he was a boy, he went through the cere-
mony and ritual of manhood. It is a secret ritual
that marks the time the boy becomes a man. One
goes from Umkwetha to Ulwakuko, from boy to
man. There is a ritual circumcision that is carried
out on boys of the same age set. The boys are
taken to the hills to live in isolation for several
weeks as abakwetha (initiates), and when they
return, they smear white clay over their bodies
until they heal from the circumcision.
Girls also go through the rites of intonjane
(womanhood). They are taken away as well, but
they are not gone for several weeks. They are not
circumcised because that is not a practice of the
Xhosa. The Xhosa believe that mothers who have
children should be secluded for 10 days after giv-
ing birth. They bury the afterbirth and the umbili-
cal cord near the village. The traditional greeting
is Inkabayakhoiphi? which means, “Where is
your navel?” When you answer, you are literally
telling people where you live.MolefiKeteAsanteSeealsoSotho; ZuluFurtherReadings
Asante, M. K. (2007).TheHistoryofAfrica. London:
Routledge.
Kaschula, R. (1997).TheHeritageLibraryofAfrican
People:Xhosa. New York: Rosen.
Reader, J. (1997).Africa:ABiographyoftheContinent.
New York: Vintage Books.