On the Wild side of the Coast

Coffee Bay was very hippy... we spent a morning having several Kodak Moments on the cliffs,
getting sunburned at the beach and in the afternoon a guy invited us to go speak to a sangoma (a local witch doctor) and then the initiation of two 18 year old that become men through circumcision. It was all very fascinating, especially since we did it through a guy, Lihle that we met by chance in the bus. He just introduced us to these people from his little village, and though they had never before seen tourists, they managed to explain it all very well.

The sangoma, who was actually quite young, 34 y/o, had been called three years before by first becoming sick (headaches and hallucinations) that couldn't be cured by pills or shots. She then experienced dreams and visions, in which ancestors of her, dressed in white called her to become a sangoma. She went to consult another sangoma who confirmed the message and she spent a year in training (as a twaza), learning about medicines and consulting the elders. They have to be able to say what the problem is of the people that come to see them (which costs 60R) and then for the remedy (oils, roots, specific rituals to be performed) another 350R.

We next went on to see a little hut (rondavel) in which two young men were spending their one month initiation period.
As you can see on the pictures, their names are changed after the one month period and the new names are written above their sleeping place. They are painted with a kind of white ochre that is meant to have a link with the ancestors (white meaning the peaceful ones, who passed away in their sleep and whose bones are white now). During the one month, they are taught what responsibilities come with manhood, how to behave towards their wife, how to ritually kill a goat or cow, etc. This is also sometimes used as a punishment, for youngsters that are behaving badly. If they go through the entire initiation, their former crimes or sins are forgiven, since they are supposed to have been committed by others. No women visitors are allowed except for sisters(though they made an exception for Estelle). Funny to note thought that they were playing with a deck of cards with nude (white) women on them though.