🛖🏺 It's Saturday O'clock! 😊
Let's answer your questions about how your ancestors fit into the prayer (refer to last week's thread - on African prayer and healing before colonisation)
🛖 Firstly, let's just correct this...
Your ancestors are your forefathers who have lived and passed on, there is nothing "dark" or "satanic" about them as people were made to believe post colonisation
You're using your grandfather's surname but he's "bad"? Aaibo kahleni.
How then did they fit into prayer?
Ancestors were/are people who were seen as guardian angels, the people who were on the other side yet still looking out for those they felt behind
Post colonisation, that was replaced by "Jesus" because that came with the bible.
When they would go pray on the Mountains, they would first "inform" their ancestors that this was the journey they were embarking on, they prayed for guidance, safety until they got to their destination
Bashunqise ke impepho emsamo
People who know about deaths and funerals, know about "ihlahla", it's a small tree leaf that is carried to symbolise a person's spirit
If a person passed on tragedically, the family would carry that leaf until his home, as a way to "bring his spirit home to rest"
They too carried a tree leaf, even traditional beer to the mountains to show, they are walking and being guarded by their forefathers
They would pray; ask them to request "God" (Umdali) to grant them what they were praying for, i.e., rain, illness, livestock, peace, and safety
Q: Why was it only certain people who went to pray (traditional healers, spiritually gifted people, etc)?
Because going to the mountains to pray for rain, health, livestock, etc is no child's play
It took people who were mentally strong, that could connect with their ancestors
They were able to stay on the Mountains for days, until things started to change. If you don't have a spiritual gift or still young, you wouldn't survive a day
As soon as it started to rain and they found a cure (herbs) for whatever illness, they would descend and go back home
End of Part 2.
Here is an interesting fact.
📸 Did you know that post colonisation, photos were printed in the Eastern Cape? Most photos which were taken between the 1800s to early 1900s were taken/shot anywhere but printed in Port Elizabeth
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