Ukuthwasa

Ukuthwasa (isiZulu / isiXhosa); the related verb root is thwasa

Ukuthwasa is the term used among several Nguni peoples of Southern Africa, particularly Zulu and Xhosa communities, for the spiritual calling, initiation and training that a person undergoes to become a traditional healer and diviner, known as a sangoma (isangoma) in isiZulu or igqirha in isiXhosa. It is understood not as a chosen career but as a vocation believed to be issued by the ancestors. The process moves through three broad phases: the calling, a period of immersive training under an established healer, and a graduation ceremony that publicly recognises the new healer. The descriptions below set out what is widely documented and practised; customs differ considerably by region, people and family.

What it is

Ukuthwasa refers both to the experience of being called to heal and to the formal initiation that follows. The word derives from the root thwasa, which is commonly glossed as relating to the light of the new moon or to being led toward the light, and is associated with the ideas of emerging or being reborn into a new role. A person undergoing the process is referred to as an ithwasa (also ithwasane). The training prepares them for the work of a diviner-healer: communicating with ancestral spirits, divining (including the reading of thrown bones and other objects), interpreting dreams and signs, and identifying and using muthi (medicinal and ritual plant and animal substances). A related but distinct role is that of the inyanga, a healer chiefly concerned with herbal medicines; in practice the two roles often overlap today.

Purpose and meaning

The purpose of ukuthwasa is to recognise, accept and develop a calling believed to come from the ancestors (amadlozi or idlozi in isiZulu; izinyanya in isiXhosa). This calling, sometimes termed ubizo, is widely described as announcing itself through dreams, visions, altered states or a persistent illness that conventional treatment does not resolve, often called an initiation or calling illness. Within the tradition, accepting the calling and completing training is understood to relieve this condition and to transform the initiate into a recognised intermediary between the living community and the ancestors. The ceremony of accepting the calling is sometimes referred to as imvuma kufa.

What happens / the process

After the calling is recognised, the initiate trains under an experienced healer who acts as teacher and guide, known in isiZulu as a gobela. Training is immersive: the ithwasa commonly lives with or near the gobela and takes part in daily healing and ritual work. Reported elements of training include learning to communicate with and show humility toward the ancestors, learning divination, dream interpretation and the gathering and use of muthi, and undergoing purification rites such as steaming and ritual washing. Sources describe the period as governed by strict discipline, which may include restrictions on contact with family, dietary and behavioural rules, and abstinence. The length varies widely, from several months to several years, with some accounts citing a minimum of around nine months. The training concludes with a graduation ceremony.

The graduation

The graduation, often called goduswa, publicly confirms that the initiate has completed training and is ready to practise. It is typically a communal celebration attended by other healers, family and members of the community, and commonly features drumming, song and dancing, sometimes entering ancestral trance. Widely reported elements include animal sacrifice and tests in which the initiate must, with the help of the ancestors, locate hidden objects (in some accounts including the gall bladder of a sacrificed goat) to demonstrate the ability to perceive beyond the ordinary. The specific ritual sequence, the animals used and the precise tests differ between accounts and communities, so the details should be read as illustrative rather than uniform.

Cultural significance

Ukuthwasa is central to indigenous healing and to the relationship between living people and their ancestors in many Southern African communities. The resulting healer occupies an important role: offering divination, healing, guidance and ritual mediation, and helping to maintain harmony between individuals, families and the ancestral world. Traditional healing of this kind remains widely consulted in South Africa today, and traditional health practitioners have a degree of formal legal recognition under national legislation governing the field.

Regional and family variation

Customs vary significantly by people, region, lineage and individual gobela, and the terminology shifts across languages. Among Xhosa speakers the diviner is an igqirha (plural amagqirha) and herbalists are amaxhwele; among Zulu speakers the diviner is an isangoma. Terms for the ancestors also differ, for example amadlozi (isiZulu), amadloti (siSwati), izinyanya (isiXhosa), and badimo (Sesotho). The structure, duration and ritual content of the calling, training and graduation are not standardised, and historical forces including colonialism, urbanisation and apartheid have reshaped and blended practices over time. Descriptions of any single ceremony should not be taken as applying to all communities.

Related ceremonies and terms

Related terms and concepts include: ubizo (the calling); idlozi / amadlozi and izinyanya (ancestral spirits); imvuma kufa (accepting the calling); ithwasa / ithwasane (the initiate); gobela (the training healer); goduswa (graduation); muthi (medicine); ukuvumisa and divination by thrown bones; indumba (a sacred healing hut where ancestors are believed to reside); and the related healer roles of isangoma / igqirha (diviners) and inyanga / amaxhwele (herbalists).

Related: Ubizo (the ancestral calling), Imvuma kufa (accepting the calling), Goduswa (graduation ceremony), Gobela (training healer / teacher), Ithwasa / ithwasane (initiate), Sangoma / isangoma (Zulu diviner-healer), Igqirha / amagqirha (Xhosa diviner), Inyanga (herbalist healer), Amadlozi / idlozi and izinyanya (ancestral spirits), Muthi (traditional medicine), Indumba (sacred healing hut), Ukuvumisa / divination with bones

Customs vary by family, clan and region; this is general guidance, not a fixed rule. Corrections welcome.

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