Socio Cultural and Philosophical Importance of Rituals in Traditional Medicine: Focus on HIV And AIDS Treatment in the Vhembe District, Limpopo Province

Abstract

Indigenous healing is largely holistic in its approach. When a patient consults with a headache or a painful knee, there would be a deliberate intent on the part of the healer to look at the entire body and its relation to the environment, ancestors, and spiritual aspects. However, this approach is often misunderstood and ridiculed at times. This study sought to examine the socio-cultural importance and philosophical stance of rituals followed by indigenous healers during the process of diagnosis and administration of HIV and AIDS treatments. While there is recognition and acceptance that indigenous healers have a part to contribute to the treatment of HIV/AIDS, this has been done in a manner that requires indigenous healers to conform to western approaches and methodologies, thus losing the authentic value and form in which they have been used since time immemorial. This is an exploratory study, which entails aspects of participant observation, where selected indigenous healers were observed and interviewed to provide key information regarding the phenomenon in question. Sixteen indigenous healers were purposively selected. Responses from semi-structured interviews with these indigenous healers from the Vhembe District in the Limpopo Province, South Africa, were the main sources used for the knowledge acquisition process. Being the conduit through which these participants’ stories were told, the researcher’s own account and viewpoints on the subject were interwoven throughout this report. The study revealed that indigenous healers perceive rituals as the backbone of the healing process. The study also found that there are no specific rituals reserved for HIV/AIDS patients, as rituals are embedded and are considered as the ‘DNA’ of all aspects of healing for all diseases and illnesses. Meaning that rituals serve as both ground and a centre within which transformation for the patient, the family, and the community at large occur. The most significant finding in this study, as articulated by all participants, is that rituals give one purpose and an opportunity to reconnect with oneself, the family, ancestors, and the community, bringing one to the centre of who they are. This is because participants believe that rituals are necessary because, in their understanding, sickness or disease is not just physical, but a way for the body to communicate what the soul or the ancestors need, and therefore, participation in the ritual fulfils, not just the physical disease, but the socio-cultural, and spiritual issues. This highlighted the need to properly contextualise and acknowledge the multi-layered, complex process of indigenous healing within the socio-cultural frame works. I, therefore, recommend the establishment of a clear and definitive role for indigenous healing within government framework for primary health care so that indigenous healers can play a decisive part in the provision of healthcare within the South African population.