Day 21 - Mautse Site Visit (7/15/11)

Spiritual, intriguing, fertile, quiet, sacred. These words best describe the feelings I had when walking through this quiet landscape. It was interesting because the plot of land which occupies Mautse is on the border of Lesotho and South Africa. It is said to have a lot of spiritual healing abilities and brings peace to the ancestors in which it calls for.

This is not typically a place where people live permanently, but rather they live there temporarily so they can answer the calls that either God or the ancestors have called them to meet. For example, there is a fertility home which women can visit if they have issues becoming pregnant or desire to. There is a religious alter fashioned into a large rock wall that you can stand on which allows a person to pray quietly and personally, but straight to God which to these people is very important.

We had a chance to hike a little bit to get where we needed to go within the site, but one place went to in particular caught my attention. We stopped at this small body of water which was near the altar that we were told was a baptismal place which seemed interesting. Let me describe the area to you: it was about 50 ft wide by maybe 100 ft long, there were some plants near the opening where we walked in, but that was it. It was tucked in-between some gigantic rocks that were stories tall, the body of water was probably about 30 ft long by 15 ft wide, and there was one medium/small tree within the space that stood near the water. The things that I found interesting as we were being explained about the area is that it is used for ceremonial purpose, but the water is extremely contaminated. People use this water for washing clothing, and there is heavy fecal contamination from the livestock. Hanging on the one tree branch which extended over the water were two large cow legs which had clearly been there for a while because they appeared very dry and had a horrible stench. Who would want to be dipped in water that had that over top of it?! Gross.

After that we attended a ritualistic ceremony (no dipping in water or animal sacrificing this time .... thank God), but these people take this very seriously. We watched a woman who is like a shaman of the area Perform both verbal and physical activities that showed praise to the ancestors and God. The had a fire off to the right where they burnt herbs, and these small flour cakes drenched on oil. They are somehow related to a passage out of the bible that speaks of this type of food. I just watched, but everyone else in our group grabbed these items and threw them into the fire. This is what it looked like:




The women apparently ran the show here in both leading of the ceremony and singing. The men seemed to be helpers in preparation of items needed for the ritual and in dance. It was long, my legs fell asleep, and I was hungry. All three were a bad combo, but overall it was an interesting experience.

This was my view on the way home. This is what I love about Africa :)




- With all my thanks :)

Location:Mohokare Valley, South Africa