The initiation of a Baca isangoma diviner

Abstract

SYNOPSIS The activities and social function of the Nguni diviner (Zulu, Baca isangoma; Xhosa igqira) has been described by a number of writers, notably Hunter and Kohler. This article gives an account of an initiation ceremony observed among the Baca of the Mount Frere district, East Griqualand and, as such, fills a gap in the published data on the subject. A person is “called” to the profession by the ancestral spirits and a diviner is conceived to be in a special relationship towards them. The initiation takes place after a year's preliminary training with an established doctor, during which time the novice attends seances (iintlombe) and acquires an extensive knowledge of medicinal plants. Food and social taboos are observed and dreams play an important part in directing personal life. The initiation consists of seances, through which rapport is established with the spirits, and the ritual killing of a white goat (umthul’ entaeni) and a beast .(inkomo yokuphuma), the latter revealed to the novice in a ...