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Xhosa Heritage - Culture
Birth Rites
A new born baby is introduced to the community of the living and the departed by performing the Birth ritual. An animal is slaughtered and its blood symoblises the unification of the physical and the spiritual worlds of the child. Several processes take place from the day the child is born. The baby is welcomed by the elderly women until the piece of the umbilical cord falls off (awise inkaba). Ifuku, the period before the falling of inkaba when the mother is confined inside the hut, symbolises that the new member of the family does not only to the clan members but also to the whole community, as not only the clan women participate in ukufukamisa (to pariticipate during ifuku) but also women from the neighbourhood. Umdlezana (breast-feeding mother) and the child come out after the cord has fallen off and been buried in a religious way by the elderly clan women.The burial of an inkaba seals the permanent attachement of an individual to his or her ancestral land. It is what one could claim as the "Home". Inkaba is then commonly used metaphorically to mean one's place of birth, one's ancestral home. It symbolises the relationship between the individual, his/her clan, the land and the spiritual world. The burial place of an inkaba is a place where one must go and thonga, (special dreams in connection with ancestors), communicate with ancestors. It is in the same main hut that one must sleep when experiencing problems. In such circumstances one must sleep either on a goat's skin or on a mat (ukhuko) but not on a bed.
After the falling of inkaba, a ritual is performed which includes the whole community. The ritual (imbeleko, ukuqatywa) is the public announcement that a particular clan has a new member who needs a welcome into the community. The skin of the sacrificial animal is owned by the child and is kept for religious purposes. The child sleeps on it when it encounters some health problems that are not related to ordinary biological dysfunctioning of cells but are spiritually related. The skin also symbolises the religious connection of the animal to the ancestors as the animal was used as a medium between the child and the spiritual world.Non-performence of the ritual results in punishment as the child has been denied some important aspects of his/her life like not being introduced to the community or attached to the ancestral land. Parents are reminded of their obligation to perform a ritual when problems occur. To mention a few; bed-wetting of an adult or defecating in am improper place, a constant urge to spill blood, a psychological problem leading a person to stab another without reason. In such circumstances the clan elderly takes responsibility to reconcile the debt by performing the ritual due or to appease.
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