Figure 18: African performances

Figure 18: African performances

4.3. Autoethnography Part 4.

Begin, As we Gqeberha, 2012

The one who was no longer a boy, yet who was not yet a man, sat on a floor rug with his back against the wall. He was naked under the warm woollen blanket that he wrapped around him, his body clean from the recent wash done by the women who were closest to him. He was not sitting alone. He was one of a trio, with a brother a month younger and a cousin a year younger, who were sitting with him. They were in a flatlet, one window and one door the only openings in the 16 square meter room. The room was filled with more than 20 men, a collection of young to middle-aged men who had yet to take the step into marriagehood. The loud buzz of alcohol-filled conversation accompanied the reconnecting and philosophising that this point of the ritual needed. It was morning, and the ‘in-betweeners’ (Amakrwala) had spent the entire night awake as was required of them. They had walked quite a long distance in the early hours of the morning. They found themselves there at their grandfather’s place, the last place they were before they had been taken to the mountain. There was a gathering outside, the spaces around the home filled by family, friends, and community members. The conversations cut off as a man with greying hair walked into the room, looking around at those in the small space. He walked to stand in front of the three ‘inbetweeners’ looking in the face of each of the three in turn. “It is time, ” he looked around before walking out the room, followed by the men who had gathered, each glancing at the sitting figures before exiting – those who stayed waited. The in-betweener stood first as the oldest of the three and walked out with a traditional wooden walking cane in hand. There was silence outside, yet the narrow spaces of the plot were filled with men sitting on benches. They sat wrapping around the entire front and sides of the house, spilling over from the front yard. The in-betweener was both nervous and excited. He had prepared and had been prepared for all this. He walked until he found himself walking out onto the front yard and sat nearest the totem marking the place of speaking. The others followed, seating themselves in a sequence of age on the grass.

The front yard was full of wrinkled faces with greyed hair, a collection of fathers, husbands, and grandfathers, all the older men of the family and close community. A figure stood by close to the totem, waiting. It was their granduncle. He would be the speaker and would lead the rituals. He stood waiting for all those who could fill the front yard, men finding any available open area to sit in, whether chairs or paved walkway or grass. When the area was filled to his satisfaction, he turned to the three ‘in-betweeners’. He began to speak. He spoke of he who was, who they were, and who their father was. He spoke of family, community, tribe, and clan. He spoke of truth, growth, change, and achievement. He spoke of rights, roles, responsibility, and accountability. He spoke of ancestors, a beginning, an end, and of the journey. He spoke, and the ‘in-betweeners’ listened, as they were taught and warned to do. This speaking was the wisdom of an entire people they had to remember, so they sat, watching and listening. When the man was done speaking, he introduced another to take his place. That man he introduced stood, walking to stand at the place of speaking, the father of the ‘in-betweeners’. He spoke. Many others followed. Almost all who had begun the journey of manhood and were walking the journey of manhood spoke, and the seated figures listened. Some came and knelt in front of the figures, most placing money into a dish placed there, supporting the beginning of the journey. The ‘in-betweeners’ had given away all things they owned before heading to the mountains. They had nothing to their name but themselves and a blanket, cane, and animal skin.

The man who had begun the speaking stood and closed the ceremony, his voice echoing at the end. The women who had stood at the peripherals and those who were busy in the house preparing the feast stopped their activities. The eldest aunt of the ‘in-betweeners’ began a loud ululation, and all the other women who could hear joined her. The ululations spread to homes of people who had not come to the celebrations and spread throughout the neighbourhood in celebration. The ‘in-betweeners’’ father sat looking at the three figures, tears streaming down his face while smiling. The one who was no longer a boy was finally a man.