KheKheKe - Sangoma from Zululand

[Andy Rabagliati <andyr@wizzy.com>]

Folks,

I hitched back from Swaziland, and got back in time for a visit to
KheKheKe - the Zululand Sangoma near the Tugela river. The
National Geographic film crew had showed up, and we set off
on Tuesday to his Kraal. the film is called "Snakes of Africa",
and our interest in KheKheKe was his use of snakes during
his rituals.

He had collected several local Sangomas to be a part of the
ceremonies, and after a nice lunch and a beer, and selection of
a site for filming, the action began ..

Leading the procession was the man himself, holding two snakes
by their tails - a mamba, I think, and something else. After a bit
of song and dance, he laid his shield down in the grass - something
for the snakes to hide under while they were not being swung around.

He then produced a puff adder from somewhere - about 2 feet long,
and a foot or so in circumference - a fat one. He held it by the head,
opened the jaws, so we (and the camera) could see the all teeth
were present and correct .. and ran a piece of grass through its mouth.
He then - I kid you not - placed the head of the puff adder in his mouth,
and held it there without his hands. Serious stuff.

We had several minutes of this sort of display, with a few of the snakes,
after which he put them all back under the shield, and the ceremony
continued. Graham understood imperfectly, but gathered that he was
recalling the history, and bravery, and the deaths, of Zulus from that
area. There was a chorus of response from the other Zulus there,
and we went into the traditional Zulu dance - consisting of high
kicks and stamping in time to drums, shakers and long horns
reminiscent of Alpine instruments.

The cameraman complained (back in Eshowe) that his field of vision
was a little restricted through the viewfinder, and he couldn't always
see the snakes that were flung at his feet ..

Pretty amazing stuff, destined for a minute or two in the resulting film.

Cheers,     Andy!

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