adminA PEOPLE’S cosmology or worldview is responsible for their cultural world and landscape. To scan a cultural landscape is to take a journey into the minds of those who created the particular landscape. Such a realisation helps in the appreciation and subsequent interpretation of the cultural landscape.
In the last article we made reference to a symbolic corpse, a corpse resulting from the figurative killing of a previous stage following change and transition during the rite of passage. Life goes through stages, so believed the early Africans. Each stage required preparation of the individual for the stage in terms of acquisition of knowledge, skills and moral and ethical values among others.
It is important to note that the rites of passage referred to above were grounded in folklore and ancient religious beliefs. Be that as it may, the thrust was on the material component of man. Material-based rituals were taking place within the material or physical realm. However, beyond death the spiritual component entered the spiritual realm in which the soul lived in eternity and infinity.
As pointed out in some earlier articles, the spirit is associated with stone which itself is symbolic of eternity through its ability to resist weathering. The Egyptian pharaohs were interred in colossal megalithic structures called pyramids. Internal walls of these pyramids were replete with hieroglyphic writing relating to the final journey where the spirit, in its transmigration, set on a journey towards a targeted star.
The writing, comprising engraved images was symbolic of both protection and accompaniment of the pharaoh’s spirit. It was thus not so much the writing that mattered. What mattered more was what the writing represented in figurative terms. The guiding principles behind the pyramids were not unique to the pharaohs, rather they also related to the commoners. The difference was in elegance and the scale of operations.
Here we see the ancient Africans embracing similar ideas albeit on a smaller and less grandiose scale. Death was provided with a valve as it were, to ensure one directional movement. In some ancient communities the corpse was taken into a room feet first so as to confuse the spirit which was not expected to find its way back. Movement of the spirit was irreversible. Beyond occupation of a human body the spirit went on to occupy a reptile such as snakes.
This is the basis for reference to the ancestral spirits as izinyoka, literally snakes in the SiNdebele language. Indeed, everyone undergoing initiation to become a traditional doctor would dream of one type of snake or another, in particular the water python or green mamba, inyandezulu. In fact, some initiates among both the Zulu and the Ndebele venture out and come back with a python wrapped around them.
Beyond habitation of the reptiles the next stage is that of birds that have the ability to fly high both literally and figuratively into the spiritual realm. Once again, there are birds that are associated with African spirituality such as the fish eagle and the dove. Beyond the birds the spirit transforms into a star. This was why the pharaohs had their corpses in the pyramids aligned in such a way that their spirits headed straight towards a star such as Orion.
The relationship with stars is apparent during spiritual initiation. Completion of the initiation process is made to coincide with the appearance of a constellation called isilimela (Pleiades) in SiNdebele. Completion of initiation should thus be seen as alignment with a particular stellar constellation; linking one’s spirit with the cosmic bodies.
The ability to see the future and diagnose illness, be it through clairvoyance, vision or dreaming is rooted in this connection. While the physical body goes through the rites of passage, the spirit goes through transmigration from one medium to another: grass, tree, beast human, reptile, bird and finally star.
We may seem to have digressed from the topic at hand — the disposal of a symbolic corpse resulting from the metaphorical killing of an earlier stage in the rites of passage. In particular, the emphasis is on the use and meaning of the ash. When the initiates complete their structured course their bomas, which are temporary shelters, are razed to the ground. Before the initiates make the triumphal entry into their parents’ homes as recognised men, they perform one final ritual where ash is applied.
The graduands compile cairns (mounds) of earth with stones on the site where they underwent initiation. The shape of the stone cairns is circular. This does not come as a surprise. The people refer to their own funerary traditions to deal with disposal of the symbolic corpse. Before colonisation the graves were circular in shape. The men were interred in a sitting position together with their weapons to defend themselves in the long journey to the land of spirits.
To convey the idea of infinity or eternity stones were placed on the grave and took the shape of the grave which was circular. The grave alone symbolically signified the burial of an old stage that the initiates left behind them. The circularity connects with the cosmos whose stars, planets and moons are circular and move in elliptical orbits. More importantly, the circle has no beginning and no end. It is thus an appropriate representation of the idea of continuity, eternity and infinity. It is a symbol of fertility.
In order to add the dimension of irreversibility ash was used. Remember what we said in earlier articles, that one cannot put together ash, water vapour, carbon dioxide and other products of combustion to get back to firewood. The chemical reaction is irreversible. In between the stones ash was added. Now there were two critical messages.
The first one relates to the symbolic burial of the earlier stage. The burial of the stage presupposes the preceding killing of that stage. To buttress the idea of no resurrection ash was added. The earlier stage cannot be reverted to, it is gone for good. There is a further idea that is being expressed by the addition of ash.
Initiation is a gruelling exercise. The initiates must prove that they are men who can withstand pain coming in the form of ordeals that they were subjected to. Advance to manhood is successfully attained when the ordeals are successfully withstood. This is preparation for possible hardships in future, which hardships will have to be endured with bravery and stoicism.
When the initiates go back home the stone cairns are one evidence that remains on the site of their initiation. It is this evidence that archaeologists will come face to face with. The cairns are a cultural landscape which, if it is to be interpreted meaningfully, requires recourse to an African worldview and cosmology. An African landscape can only be appreciated and interpreted within the mental context of the African group or community that created the particular cultural landscape.
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