Xhosa traditions to accompany Mandela's funeral

(Image: GCIS)

Family spokesperson Bantu Holomisa told SAnews in Qunu on Friday that the AbaThembu King, Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo, was expected to lead a group of traditional leaders as well as Mandela elders in welcoming him home.

This will also ensure that Mandela is sent to the world of the ancestors.

According to Xhosa custom, it is important that the ritual is performed and that the ancestors are informed of the arrival of Mandela's remains. Xhosa speakers are divided into several groups, including the abaThembu people, of which Mandela is a member.

Welcome home

"The King, together with other elders of the family, the Dlomos will say welcome home Madiba, you are home now," said Holomisa.

During the ceremony, Mandela will be called by his clan name 'Dalibhunga' - a name he got after undergoing initiation at the age of 16. Dalindyebo will shout "Aaah! Dalibhunga," three times as he greets his body as it arrives home.

The ritual of accompanying Mandela's spirit will include the slaughtering of an ox in the early hours of Saturday morning before receiving his body, flown in from Waterkloof Air Force Base, in Pretoria.

Mandela's send-off on Sunday will be a ceremony which is a combination of a State Funeral with all its military pomp and the traditional burial rituals of the Xhosa clan.

The day after the funeral, the Mandela family will organise a cleansing ceremony as dictated by tradition where a sheep will be slaughtered. This will be strictly a family affair.

A week later, there will be another ceremony called ukuhlanjwa kwepeki (meaning washing the equipment that was used to dig the graves). This is a common practice in Xhosa culture.