Traditional healers of Southern Africa are practitioners of traditional African medicine. These practices involve indigenous herbalism and African spirituality.
Traditional healer preparing and drying out herbs. Johannesburg, South Africa. (CC BY SA 3.0)
There are two main types of traditional healers within the Nguni, Sotho, and Tsonga societies of Southern Africa: the diviner (sangoma) and the herbalist (inyanga). Each culture has their own terminology for their traditional healers.
The Roles of Sangoma and Inyanga
Although sangoma is a Zulu term that is colloquially used to describe all types of Southern African traditional healers, there are differences between practices. An inyanga is concerned mainly with medicines made from plants and animals, while a sangoma relies primarily on divination for healing purposes and might also be considered a type of fortune teller.
A trainee sangoma (or ithwasane) starts their ukuthwasa or ubungoma (in Xhosa) journey which is associated with the "calling" to become a sangoma, though this event also involves those with schizophrenia.
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Communication with Ancestral Spirits
The sangoma will provide specific information about the problems of the patient. Some sangomas speak to their patients through regular conversation, whilst others speak in tongues or languages foreign to their patients, but all languages used by sangomas are indigenous Southern African languages depending on the specific ancestors being called upon.
Ancestral spirits can be the personal ancestors of the sangoma or the patient, or they might be general ancestors associated with the geographic area or the community. It is believed that the spirits have the power to intervene in people's lives who work to connect the sangoma to the spirits that are acting in a manner to cause affliction. For example, a crab could be invoked as a mediator between the human world and the world of spirits because of its ability to move between the world of the land and the sea.
Helping and harming spirits are believed to use the human body as a battleground for their own conflicts. A sangoma's goal in healing is to establish a balanced and harmless relationship between the afflicted patient and the spirits that are causing their illness or problem. The healer intercedes between the patient and the world of the dead in order to make restitution.
This is generally performed through divination (throwing the bones or ancestral channelling), purification rituals, or animal sacrifice to appease the spirits through the atonement. Throwing bones to access the advice of ancestors is an alternative practice to the relatively exhausting ritual of possession by the ancestor.
The Process of Divination
In a typical session, a patient will visit the sangoma, and the sangoma must determine what the affliction is or the reason the patient has come to them for help. Before the throwing of the bones, the healer should first ask for the name and surname of the patient; the healer then calls the ancestors by names, starting with their initiators' names, then their own, followed by the patient's ancestor's names.
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The patient or diviner throws bones on the floor, which may include animal vertebrae, dominoes, dice, coins, shells and stones, each with a specific significance to human life. For example, a hyena bone signifies a thief and will provide information about stolen objects. The sangoma or patient may physically throw the bones, but the ancestors control how they land.
When the diviner comes to an acceptable understanding of the problem and the patient agrees, the diviner then throws the bones again to ask the ancestors if they could help the patient.
The Use of Muthi in Healing
The spiritually curative medicines prescribed by a traditional healer are called muthi. Traditional healers will often give their patients muthi-medications made from plant, animal and minerals-imbued with spiritual significance. These muthi often have powerful symbolism; for example, lion fat might be prepared for children to promote courage.
They may be employed in healing as warranted in the opinion of the herbal specialist or inyanga. African traditional medicine makes extensive use of botanical products but the medicine prescribed by an inyanga may also include other formulations which are zoological or mineral in composition.
Bapedi traditional healers use 36 plant species to manage reproductive health problems. These medicinal species are distributed among 35 genera and 20 families.
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Muthi is prepared, and depending on the affliction, a number of purification practices can be administered. Abstinence and fasting are important things to do in preparing muthi and healing.
Methods of Administering Muthi
- Steaming (futha) - Medicinal herbs are commonly inhaled by steaming them in a bucket of boiling water. A blanket or preferably a plastic sheet (as blankets absorb heat and don't circulate the steam well) is used to cover the patient and container. Hot rocks or a portable stove may be included to keep the bucket boiling.
- Nasally - A variety of plants can be taken dried and powdered as snuff. Some are taken to induce sneezing which may traditionally be believed to aid the expulsion of disease.
- Enemas - Infusions and some decoctions are commonly administered as enemas.
An experienced inyanga/sangoma will generally seek the guidance of an ancestral spirit before embarking to find and collect muthi. Healers pay attention to dreams and prayers for ancestral advice on auspicious time to collect plants, which particular plants to collect and where these plants are located. Many traditional healers won't have to collect plants for each patient as they have herbs stored in their huts.
Here's an example of plants used in traditional medicine:
| Plant Name | Traditional Use |
|---|---|
| Anredera cordifolia (iDlula) | Treats amafufunyana (depression with psychotic symptoms) |
| Araucaria bidwillii (iNdiyandyiya) | Treats amenorrhea, tuberculosis, and malnutrition |
| Bidens pilosa (uMhlabangubo) | Treats infertility in women and protects from evil spirits |
| Lantana camara (iQunube) | Treats lower back pain, abdominal pain, gonococcal infections, and urinary tract infections |
Training to Become a Sangoma
Both men and women can become traditional healers. A trainee sangoma (or ithwasane) trains formally under another sangoma for a period of anywhere between a number of months and many years. During the training period the healer in training will share their ailments in the form of song and dance, a process that is nurtured by the analysis of dreams, anxieties, and with prayer.
At times in the training, and for the graduation, a ritual sacrifice of an animal is required to be performed (usually chickens and a goat or cow). At the end of the training, to signify the start of initiation, a female goat is slaughtered during the early hours of the morning and the next day chickens will be sacrificed next to a river before a second large animal is slaughtered.
An initiate (ithwasa) being led towards the goat that will be sacrificed at her initiation into becoming a sangoma
All these sacrifices are to call to the ancestors and appease them. The local community, friends and family are all invited to the initiation to witness and celebrate the completion of training. The trainee is tested by the local elder sangomas to determine whether they have the skills and insight necessary to heal.
The climactic initiation test is to ensure the trainee has the ability to "see" things hidden from view. This is proved when other sangomas hide sacred objects for the trainee to find in front of the community. The trainee must call upon their ancestors, find the hidden objects, which include the skin of the sacrificed goat and the ancestors' clothes, and return them back to the sangomas that hid them, thus proving they have the ability to 'see' beyond the physical world.
The practise is done at night and involves removing the traditional clothing worn throughout the day to be hidden again for the trainee to find. The graduation ceremony takes three days from Friday to Sunday.
The Role of Drumming and Trance
Sangoma can also literally mean 'person of the drum' or 'the drumming one' and drumming is an important part of summoning the ancestors. During times of celebration (e.g. at an initiation) the possessed sangoma is called to dance and celebrate their ancestors.
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The sangoma will fall into trance (when in trance a sangoma is not conscious of what is happening, and will require witnesses to repeat what had been said during the trance) where the ancestors will be channeled (which is signified in Zulu traditions by episodes of convulsive fits) followed by the singing of ancestral songs. These songs are echoed back to the ancestor via the audience in a process of call and response.
Legal Recognition and Modern Challenges
Sangomas are legally recognised in South Africa as "traditional health practitioners", under the Traditional Health Practitioners Act of 2007 (Act. 22 of 2007) as diviners alongside herbalists, traditional birth attendants, and traditional surgeons. The act calls for the establishment of a national council of traditional health practitioners to regulate and register a.o. sangomas in the country. However, it was only in December 2011 that the National Department of Health took action and opened nominations for seats on an interim council.
While there are recorded instances of white sangomas before 1994, since 1994 an increasing number of white people have openly trained as sangomas in South Africa. The question of authenticity is still an ongoing discussion.
The formal health sector has shown continued interest in the role of sangomas and the efficacy of their herbal remedies. In the past decade, the role of traditional healers has become important in fighting the impact of HIV and treating people infected with the virus before they advance to a point where they require (or can obtain) anti-retroviral drugs. However, there are no traditional medicines in South Africa that have clinically been proven to be effective in the treatment of HIV/AIDS.
While many traditional healers positively contribute toward the healing process, the industry has been exploited for financial gain by charlatans who have not undergone training, sometimes called plastic shamans. Not all countries in southern Africa have effective regulatory bodies to prevent this practice.
