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Evidence from archaeology and linguistics suggests that ancestors of Nguni and Sotho-Tswana speakers came from East Africa and had spread south of the Limpopo river by about AD 1350. These Southern Bantu groups possess the Iroquois classificatory kinship system in which a single genderless term derived from the verb 'to beget' is applied to cross-cousins-the children of father's sister and mother's brother. This system makes cross-cousin marriage possible. The Iroquois system also occurs in groups of Murdock's Equatorial, Interlacustrine, Tanganyika and Central Bantu provinces. Following Murdock's suggestion that kinship may provide clues to linguistic affiliation and migrations, I examine the occurrence of a limited range of cultural attributes in Bantu speaking groups with the Iroquois system. This reveals strong similarities between Interlacustrine Bantu groups and the Nguni on the one hand, and between Tanzanian groups and Sotho speakers on the other. The ethnographic evidence therefore supports East Africa as the place of origin of Nguni and Sotho speakers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores the role of the Ethnological Section of the South African Department of Native Affairs under Nicholas Jacobus van Warmelo in the formulation of the apartheid policy. It provides information on the educational and professional career of Van Warmelo. It examines the role of Van Warmelo in the formulation of the apartheid policy. It also discusses the position of South African ethnography when Van Warmelo took up his appointment as government ethnologist in 1930.

In this study the transition from childhood to full tribal membership is discussed. Although circumcision appears to have been part of original (i.e. Natalian) Bhaca culture, the practice has fallen into disuse today and, generally speaking, there are no special rites that mark the attainment of manhood among boys. However, the phenomenon of its re‐adopton, mainly due to Hlubi influence, is noted. Girls, on the other hand, should pass through a special ceremony (umnguzo, umgubho, ipati) on reaching physical maturity. The typical Christianized ceremony, as practised today, is described, with references to traditional practices. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The activities and social function of the Nguni diviner (Zulu, Baca isangoma; Xhosa igqira) has been described by a number of writers, notably Hunter and Kohler. This article gives an account of an initiation ceremony observed among the Baca of the Mount Frere district, East Griqualand and, as such, fills a gap in the published data on the subject. A person is “called” to the profession by the ancestral spirits and a diviner is conceived to be in a special relationship towards them. The initiation takes place after a year's preliminary training with an established doctor, during which time the novice attends séances (iintlombe) and acquires an extensíve knowledge of medicinal plants. Food and social taboos are observed and dreams play an important part in directing personal life. The initiation consists of séances, through which rapport is established with the spirits, and the ritual killing of a white goat (umthul’ entaeni) and a beast .(inkomo yokuphuma), the latter revealed to the novice in a dream. A final intlombe, held in the open air (this is the only occaion on which this occurs), when the novice dons the full regalia, marks the attainment of full professional status. Throughout she is supported by other diviners who attend the ceremony. A description of a typical thwasa dream is appended. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Annual first fruit ceremonies appear to have been a prominent feature of the Nguni culture complex in the past and, while to‐day the impressive ceremonial has fallen into disuse among many tribes who formerly performed it, it is still an important pivotal rite among a few, notably the Swazi and Baca. This paper refers to the two related tribes of Baca in the Mount Frere district. There are two main views of the ceremonies’ function and significance, viz, that they are purely a harvest festival, a sacrilization of the crops, and that they are a magico‐political ritual closely associated with the tribal well‐being and the system of army doctorings. The writer considers that, for the Baca at least, the latter is the correct interpretation, although present practice may be a development from an earlier, purely agricultural, ceremony. The Baca festival (ingcube) takes place at the time of the ripening of the crops, usually in February or March, and, until it has been performed, no male may partake of the green stuffs of the fields. The full ritual may only be performed by a reigning chief (inkosi enkulu) and takes place over three days — from the Wednesday to the Friday of ingcube week. Just before, warriors are sent into the surrounding fields of alien tribes to collect green maize, calabash and sweet reed and, after cooking on a sacred fire, these are ritually tasted by the chief, followed by the male members of the tribe. The main features of the cycle are as follows: a march past of the army before the chief accompanied by martial songs and warcries, a ritual spitting of medicines towards the surrounding tribes (ukukhafula), the washing of the army in the river with special protective medicines, the killing of a sacrificial bull with the eating of its medicated flesh and a specific doctoring of the army by the tribal magician. An analysis of the symbolism inherent in the ritual would seem to emphasize the martial and protective function of the festival and its importance in supporting the solidarity and integrity of the tribal entity. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]