Thread by @tlsibanda

1. KING MZILIKAZI'S SPIRITUAL BELIEFS 👑🌍👑

Mzilikazi was raised in a society that believe in a supreme being called uMvelinqangi who is also known as uNkulunkulu. However some say Nkulunkulu was the first creation of Mvelinqangi who then created humans & animals.

2. Distinct from uMvelinqangi is iNkosi yeZulu, another deity recognised as the lord of the skies and personification of heaven. He asserts his power and glory through thunder and lightning.

3. Also linked with the sky - ezulwini is iNkosazana yeZulu, or merely iNkosazana, the princess of heaven, a female deity closely associated with abundance, fertility on crops, cattle, and human beings. Her symbol is the rainbow known as umchilo wamakhosikazi in isiNdebele.

4. Below the deities is amadlozi, spiritual beings & their name is derived from dloza, meaning "to care for,protect," but because the spirit world is thought to be situated "below" (phansi ), amadlozi are often referred to simply as abaphansi, "those of the world below."

5. Another word frequently used is amathongo, from ubuthongo, "deep sleep," a reference to one of the ways in which the ancestors contact the living - dreams and visions.

6. Other spirit beings are isithunzi, from umthunzi, "shadow," referring to the force or personality that leaves the body at death and wanders aimlessly until it is "brought home" (buyisa ) by a special ceremony known as umbuyiso.

7. Umbuyiso ceremony is designed to transform and integrate isithunzi (as an idlozi, or ancestor proper) into the council of powerful ancestors who have control over the living.

8. A baby is placed formally under the control of the ancestors to whose line it belongs by the sacrifice of a goat known as imbeleko, the skin of which is used to secure the baby on its mother's back.

9. It is believed that uMvelinqangi grew human beings from a mythical swamp known as uMhlanga - reed. All animals, birds and different creatures emerged from the reeds. UNkulunkulu created everything that exists on Earth—mountains, rivers, and all living things.

10. It is believed that UNkulunkulu was responsible for the origin of death. He sent a chameleon known as unwabu to give people the message that when they died, they would be reborn. Unwabu went along very very slowly and stopped at a bush to eat.

11. So UNkulunkulu was angry at unwabu and sent a lizard known as untulo with a second message: Death would be the end, and people would not be reborn. The lizard arrived first with the message of death.

12. Not knowing what death was, the people accepted it. When unwabu arrived, they would not listen to his message. To date Ndebele people kill untulo and unwabu alike, blaming them for bringing death upon mankind!

THE END