Izayoni /Iziyoni African churches are well established in Southern Africa. These churches are linked to the missionary work of the Christian Catholic Church in Zion founded by John Alexander Dowie in the USA in the late 1800s.
2. Dowie established a city called Zion in Illinois where all the members of his church stayed. The church emphasised on faith/divine healing and holiness. Consulting medical doctors was not allowed and members were not allowed to eat pork amongst other restrictions.
3. As the zion movement grew, missionaries were sent to Southern Africa. Later they embraced the Apostolic Faith Mission church led by the former Zionist John G. Lake however maintained the faith healing methods of Dowie.
4. Major African Zion churches in South Africa broke out from the AFM church. The first to break out of the AFM in 1910 was Daniel Nkonyane after fusing African traditional beliefs to church doctrines & introducing priestly garments as church uniforms.
5. After Nkonyane left the AFM the next African secession was led by Isaiah Shembe in 1911. Shembe's movement grew significantly over the years and was concentrated among the Zulu people.
6. In Lesotho there was Edward Lion's Zion Apostolic Faith Mission (ZAFM). Out of this church there was an offshoot known as the Zion Christian Church, whose founder, Engenas Lekganyane, was Lion's Transvaal leader in the early 1920s.
7. Out of these Zion movements many African independent churches were born. Because of the Witchcraft suppression laws in Africa many Africans with ancestral spiritual gifts found refuge in some of these churches that embraced African traditional spirituality.
8. The African Zion churches are found all over southern Africa and many continue to practice healing /cleansing methods that embrace a fusion of Christianity and African traditional spirituality.
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1. TRADITIONAL HEALERS IN THE NDEBELE SOCIETY OF ZIMBABWE 🇿🇼
Umnxeba..... 🏮
Human ailments & problems are divided into physical and spiritual categories in the traditional Ndebele society. There are people with gifts & callings to address various human calamities.
2. Inyanga : Is a herbalist, the owner of herbs /impande. The spirit of a dead person who had healing powers returns & possesses a person (inyanga) and reveals all the knowledge & secrets about herbs /impande.
3. Isangoma : This person diagnoses sicknesses & their spiritual context. Isangoma then refers the patient to the inyanga where they can be helped or prescribes spiritual ceremonies to be conducted to resolve the problem.
1. THE INXWALA FESTIVAL OF THE NDEBELE PEOPLE OF ZIMBABWE 🇿🇼
Umnxeba ....🧵
As we approach the end of the year we celebrate Christmas & New Year's holidays across the world. However, before colonisation, the Ndebele people had a festival known as inxwala.
2. Inxwala was a first fruits celebration, where the first fruits in a harvest were sacrificed to God /UNkulunkulu, who was believed to be responsible for the abundant rains and bumper harvests of food known as inala.
3. There was a special song in prayer and thanksgiving sung during these festivities known as ingoma/iculo lenxwala. This ceremony was the mother of all celebrations presided over only by the king according to Ndebele customs.
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.
The name ‘(ama)Ndebele’ is a generic name used to designate three Nguni speaking groups found in South Africa (Southern and Northern (ama)Ndebele) and the Ndebele of Zimbabwe.(Image : South African Ndebeles).
2. I previously did a detailed thread on the Ndebele of Zimbabwe and how the Zimbabwean Ndebele nation was founded by King Mzilikazi Khumalo. There is always confusion on Ndebele identity in Southern Africa. ( Image : Zimbabwean Ndebele traditional leaders).
3. It is believed that amaNdebele of South Africa originate from the ancestral chief, Musi (or Msi). Scholars argue that they migrated from KwaZulu and first became a nation in 1552 under the chieftainship of Mafana who took the northwards route to establish the nation.