December has long been a sacred season in the Eastern Cape, when families gather to observe imigidi, deeply rooted cultural rites anchored in ancestry, identity and communal belonging.
However, elders warn that the practice has steadily drifted from its original meaning, with changes in rituals, attire and celebrations raising concern about cultural erosion.
Speaking to TimesLIVE, Chief Jongisilo Pokwana ka Menziwa, a traditional leader, oral historian and researcher, said the initiation season was once guided by clearly defined cultural processes that are now increasingly ignored.
“The initiation season would begin with ibhunga, where fathers of boys ready for the mountain would call all the men in the village together to formally announce that their sons were prepared for initiation,” he said. “At that gathering, men would discuss how many initiates were going to the mountain — and only then would women begin preparations for the traditional ceremony.”
He said this was followed by umgubho, which involved traditional singing and dancing, and later the homecoming ceremony, during which community members brought gifts for the newly initiated young men.
“However, from about 2000, people started eliminating the first stage. Umgidi became diluted and confused with umgubho.”
Instead of preserving culture we are reshaping it to fit modern expectations — and in the process we are losing its true meaning
— Chief Jongisilo Pokwana ka Menziwa, traditional leader, oral historian and researcher
The erosion began when key ritual elements were removed and improperly fused with later stages of the ceremony, he said.
“When we started eliminating parts of umgubho and other rituals, we ended up wrongly infusing them with the final stages. With the entrance of money, opulence and alcohol, the ceremony shifted direction entirely and turned into a formalised spectacle of excess, removed from its original set of rituals.”
Singing and dancing (ukugubha) were never meant as entertainment but served a sacred and educational purpose, he said. Each song belonged to a specific moment in the ritual, ensuring cultural continuity across generations.
“These songs are not sung for enjoyment. They are sacred songs, sung at different stages of the ritual. Each stage has its own songs, rhythms and movements, preserved so that young people can learn how to sing, how to dance and how to conduct themselves during that period.
“With modern practices, the space for cultural display and preservation has been completely removed. The teaching of our cultural practices through song and dance has been eliminated and replaced by European systems, loud, blasted music that has no cultural meaning. Even the sacred aspects of the ritual are no longer respected.”
Modern-day imigidi have increasingly shifted focus from cultural values to material displays, said Pokwana ka Menziwa.
“These days it’s about who can buy the most expensive alcohol. Ikrwala, the initiated young man, is supposed to sit on a grass mat. But now we see them seated on chairs inside decorated marquee tents. Parents are trying to outshine their children by wearing designer ‘traditional’ clothes, without thinking about the confusion and harm this causes the child.”
He said imigidi had moved away from the prescriptions of culture, turning sacred ceremonies into formalised events.
“We now have imigidi with programmes and speeches, when in essence everyone should be singing and dancing. People are expected to observe table manners and wait to be served food on plates.”
Pokwana ka Menziwa said culture is meant to bring people together and strengthen communal bonds, but warned that Westernisation has increasingly influenced communities to look down on their own traditions.
“Instead of preserving culture we are reshaping it to fit modern expectations — and in the process we are losing its true meaning.”
TimesLIVE
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