Centre for Africa Studies

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Browsing Centre for Africa Studies by Author "Du Plooy, Shirley"

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    Marian shrine pilgrimages: a multi-sited exploration of Ngome, Maseru Farm and Ha Ramabanta
    (University of the Free State, 2021-11) Ramonaheng, Seithati Mosa Portia; Du Plooy, Shirley
    Pilgrimages take place all over the world for various reasons which range from spirituality to tourism. These are journeys embarked on by a group of people or an individual, stretching from one place to the other. In South Africa, various religions have specific pilgrimages to their designated sacred places. Equally, Catholics have their pilgrimages to Marian shrines; be it where there is a Marian apparition or where there isn’t any. The lack of research on Marian pilgrimages instigated this study. This study focuses on three Marian shrines, each with unique characteristics. They are Ngome Marian shrine, Fatima Ha Ramabanta and Fatima Maseru Farm. Ngome Marian shrine and Fatima Maseru Farm are located in South Africa although in different provinces. Fatima Ha Ramabanta is in Lesotho. There was a Marian apparition in Ngome Marian shrine while, in the two Fatima pilgrimages there are no apparitions. All three sites used for the case studies are sacred to Catholics and often visited by them. Their reasons for embarking on these pilgrimages differ from person to person and are not so general as often believed. The reasons for going on a are twofold; spiritual and materialistic. The spiritual reasons for going on a pilgrimage for my participants are among others; to be in solitude with the divine mother, to gain spiritual fulfilment, to offer gratitude and express penitence through the sacrament of reconciliation which is known as confessions. On the other hand, the materialistic reasons for going on a pilgrimage include praying for wellness and success. The main reason for going on a Marian pilgrimage for my participants was healing; both materialistic and spiritually. Water become an important topic in this study. Pilgrims get holy water from the shrine which they use for both domestic and spiritual purposes. These domestic purposes are bathing, washing and cooking, while the spiritual purposes are cleansing and healing. Rain also played an important role to my participants as they had different interpretations of what it means when it rains at the end of the pilgrimage. Pilgrims see Mary as the mother and the intercessor whom they run to both in good times. Just as a mother does, Mary protects and takes care of her children especially those who run to her. When a pilgrim is at the Marian shrines, it is important to respect the sacred space at all times.
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    Pilgrimage to sacred sites in the Eastern Free State
    (University of the Free State, 2016-01) Du Plooy, Shirley; Nel, P. J.; Post, P.; Van Beek, W.
    English: There are many pilgrimages and revered forms of travel in South Africa. However, no systematic anthropological studies have been conducted into these journeys. Filling this void, this is a multisite ethnographic study of pilgrimages to the sacred sites of the eastern Free State province. Following a qualitative methodology, the purpose of this combination inductive-deductive study was to explore the pilgrimage phenomenon, describe pilgrimages to Mantsopa, Mautse and Motouleng, and explain the reasons pilgrims have for undertaking pilgrimages. Situated in the Mohokare (Caledon) River Valley, the sacred sites of the eastern Free State attract visitation from a range of site users. Predominantly Sesotho-speaking, but also coming from across the country and neighbouring countries as well, groups of mostly Apostolic, ZCC, Roman Catholic and more recently Protestant congregants or lone journeyers travel to the sites, mainly over weekends. Seeking to commune with the divine, pilgrims come to report and make prayer requests. Important motives for their pilgrimages are to search for and solidify ancestor connections, and to secure blessings. Further incentives comprise complying with the commission and instruction to visit the sites, and the healing implications of these pilgrimages. Some visitors to the sites make the trip but once, whereas other site users periodically return a number of times a year and yet others reside permanently at the sites for years. The beautifully vibrant, colourful and complex pilgrimages to the sacred sites of the eastern Free State call for a rethinking and broadening of the pilgrimage lens. The mainly Anglophone and Western conception of classic pilgrimage is too narrow to accommodate the range and complexity of motivations, traditions, people and behaviours associated with pilgrimages to the sacred sites of the eastern Free State. This heterogeneity further leads to jostling and vying for favour, clientele, narrative dominion and overall legitimisation among the pilgrim communities. Being journeys and places of substance required an acknowledgement of the significant role that the immaterial plays in all that is pilgrimage. This meant that culturalistic and hylomorphic models proved inadequate in capturing a more complete pilgrimage story. Instead, within a relational epistemology and ontology, the entwinement, enmeshment, entanglement and entrapment of the material and immaterial, the animate and inanimate, the present and absent things, bring the sacred sites, the pilgrimages and the pilgrims into existence.