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Preview(opens in a new tab)Add titleIdlozi liyaphakelwa: acknowledging my ancestors

“You are the latest version of your Ancestors. Within your DNA exists their consciousness”.

– Dalian Adofo

This post is based on the value of cultivating high regard for our elders which is one of the common values in the African culture. I did say in this post here that I will one day write about my journey on acknowledging my ancestors. Today is the day!

I should say that this journey started after I embraced my second name. Ancestors, from my understanding are family members who have passed away, some we know and some we never got to meet.  I do not worship them (I am actually a prayer warrior lol) but, I recognise them. This for me means that I am aware that there is a whole genealogy. There are people who came before my father that led to father’s existence leading to my existence.

“To acknowledge our ancestors means we are aware that we did not make ourselves, that the line stretches all the way back, perhaps to God; or to Gods. We remember them because it is an easy thing to forget: that we are not the first to suffer, rebel, fight, love and die. The grace with which we embrace life, in spite of the pain, the sorrow, is always a measure of what has gone before.” ― Alice Walker

Genealogy is stamped and I do not exist as a single entity. Acknowledging my ancestors means I am keeping their memory alive, at least for those I know.  When we lose our loved ones, we don’t forget or abandon them.

I breathe, I cry, I laugh, I smile…I live in my grandfather’s surname which was also passed down to him. I use the totems that they used. My point is, I am identified through them. And its not just with the surname, there are some things that we get from them. I don’t know if this has ever happened to you or you’ve heard it around, “uzibani ufuze uzibani” or “uzibani ufanana lo zibani” and that time, uzibani died long back and you probably never met them…that’s my point. I for one have my grandfather’s toes, which were passed to father, then to me and I don’t like them but yikho okukhona.

And as such, I have taken interest to learn about them…who was my father’s, father’s father and my mother’s, mother’s mother? I know a lot about my grandfather because father always, always talks about him and I know he was an intelligent man, I wonder why that didn’t get to me…or maybe the toes were enough? It also means appreciating what they did which contributed to where I am today. The knowledge and principles which were passed to my parents and then to me, which I will one day pass to my children…

Acknowledging my ancestors means busking in their presence and feeling them walk beside me as I live my story.  

NB:- To those who think or deem ancestors as demons and the practice of acknowledging and/or worshipping them…a snake gives birth to a snake, actually let me say it in my language its more emphatical: UMNTWANA weNYOKA YINYOKA. So, what will a demon give birth to?