Chronicle EditorTHE previous articles relating to bones have exposed some cosmologies and beliefs of the Ndebele people. It is important that we appreciate that some of the cultural traditions practiced then are still very much in vogue to this day albeit with reduced zeal and conviction.
Today we look at the practice of burning bones. Archaeologists retrieved several burnt bones during excavations at Old Bulawayo. There are ritual occasions even today when bones are burnt, post-ritual. The reasons for their burning are the same today just as they were in the 19th century.
Historical records refer to King Lobengula sitting on a royal stool burning some bones. During the various rituals and accompanying ceremonies, bones were meticulously collected so that no bones were surreptitiously hidden and taken away from the royal town.
There were many occasions when ritual cattle were slaughtered. The Ndebele people believed in periodic appeasement and propitiation of their ancestral spirits. For the King, it was time to remember and seek good favour from his ancestors; from his father King Mzilikazi, his grandfather Chief Matshobana and others ahead of these two.
The belief was that the bones of cattle slaughtered for such rituals and attendant ceremonies were infused with spiritual power from the consulted ancestral spirits. If bones from such ritually dedicated cattle fell into the wrong hands, some spiritual power and blessings would be minimised and diverted away from intended beneficiaries.
Essentially, that meant the bones were no longer just ordinary bones. Instead, they were bones imbued with spiritual power. They became special bones with a lot of spiritual meaning and significance. The bones possessed life energy, which should be jealously guarded lest that enabling mystical spiritual power is appropriated and arrogated to the detriment of the King, the State and Nation.
In view of such a belief, all the bones were dutifully collected and stored away. There were people assigned to carry out that very important task. Their role was to collect bones from which meat had been removed and consumed. Over time, the bones constituted a large and high collection. At the beginning of the New Year, in September, the bones were personally burnt by the King.
Burnt bones recovered from Old Bulawayo were not accidentally burnt. It was a cultural practice backed by a strong belief in the present protective power of the people’s ancestral spirits. Nevertheless, we do know that the capital town known as KoBulawayo was burnt when a new one going by the same name was established in 1881. This was a common practice of the Ndebele people. The King was not avoiding or seeking a new site in fear of some incoming whites with the intention of colonising the Ndebele State.
In some earlier article, we did elucidate the reasons why a town was burnt when residents relocated to a new site. Some bones were inevitably burnt during the time when Chief Magwegwe Fuayana burnt koBulawayo. Chief Magwegwe Fuyana was merely fulfilling a known and recognised cultural practice underpinned by strong beliefs and cosmologies. The chief merely provided the hands that ignited the structures.
It was tradition that required the burning of the town. It had always been the case even when King Mzilikazi relocated his capital towns.
Assuming the reason for burning the bones is appreciated, it is important now to cite some instances when the same cultural tradition of burning bones takes place. I choose to start with one that I witnessed.
The late Hudson Halimana Ndlovu whose confidence I enjoyed gave me instructions about some rituals that were to be performed when he died. Apparently, he had given the same instructions to his children, in particular to one who is a Catholic priest.
When he died one of the rituals was the slaughtering of a beast whose flesh was to be roasted outside the homestead. It was not to be introduced into the homestead and cooked. Indeed, the beast was slaughtered. The various cuts were roasted outside his homestead. Whatever cuts remained unconsumed were placed on trees so that those who arrived after the burial would help themselves to the meat. None of the meat was ever taken into the homestead.
The issue that is of special interest is that the bones from the slaughtered beast were collected and stored at one place. The purpose of collecting the bones was to avoid some of the bones falling into the hands of malevolent individuals. I want to believe at some opportune time the bones were burnt.
Normally, such burnt bones were thrown into some pool in the river what matters within the context of this article is why the bones were gathered and burnt in a bonfire. The slaughtered beast was special in that it provided some accompaniment to the departing spirit of Hudson Halimana Ndlovu. Normally, his spirit would, after a period of twelve months after death, be summoned back to take care of the living progeny. This was considered an important spiritual role for the benefit of surviving members.
The ceremony, known as umbuyiso embraced rituals and ceremonies that facilitated the return of the spirit to take part in the grand role of looking after the interests of the living progeny and ensure their sustenance, good health and welfare. The bones thus carried a spiritual dimension. It was a dimension that had to be jealously guarded if the returning spirit was to perform the envisaged roles and purposes. Malevolent elements driven by jealousy, envy and sometimes hatred would always be lurking to acquire some bone or bones from the ritual beast and manipulate the spiritual power embedded or resident in the bones so that the spirit turned its back on its progeny.
Clearly, the circumstances relating to the burning of bones might have been different. One was about propitiation of the royal ancestors while the other related to death and associated thought and beliefs. However, the critical underlying beliefs were the same. Concisely, there was belief in the Duality of Being. Humans are perceived as comprising two elements, the ephemeral body and the enduring spirit.
The spirit does not die. It has eternal life in another dimension or realm. Further, that spirit takes a keen interest in the lives of its living progeny. Through malevolent spiritual manipulation, the spirit may neglect its divine role and duty and fail to carry out intended duties to the detriment of the family of mortals.
We have in the past laid emphasis upon identifying underpinning and underlying thought, cosmologies and beliefs for us to appreciate cultural practices. Communities are not given to carrying out cultural practices for no apparent reasons. The reasons are furnished by the beliefs and thought that the communities hold resulting from lived experiences and spiritual dictates.
In the next article, we shall give one more example where today the practice of burning bones subsists. More importantly, we shall seek the basis for the burning and whether or not it tallies with the pre-colonial beliefs of the Ndebele people.
Online Reporter