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Traditional healers of South Africa are practitioners of traditional African medicine in Southern Africa. They fulfill different social and political roles in the community, including divination, healing physical, emotional and spiritual illnesses, directing birth or death rituals, finding lost cattle, protecting warriors, counteracting witches, and narrating the history, cosmology, and myths of their tradition. There are two main types of traditional healers within the Nguni, Sotho-Tswana and Tsonga societies of Southern Africa: the diviner (''sangoma''), and the herbalist (''inyanga''). These healers are effectively South African shamans who are highly revered and respected in a society where illness is thought to be caused by witchcraft, pollution (contact with impure objects or occurrences) or through neglect of the ancestors. It is estimated that there are as many as 200,000 indigenous traditional healers in South Africa compared to 25,000 Western-trained doctors. Traditional healers are consulted by approximately 60% of the South African population, usually in conjunction with modern biomedical services. For harmony between the living and the dead, vital for a trouble-free life, traditional healers believe that the ancestors must be shown respect through ritual and animal sacrifice. They perform summoning rituals by burning plants like ''imphepho'' (Helichrysum petiolare), dancing, chanting, channelling or playing drums. Traditional healers will often give their patients muti—medications made from plant, animal and minerals—imbued with spiritual significance. These muti often have powerful symbolism; for example, lion fat might be prepared for children to promote courage. There are medicines for everything from physical and mental illness, social disharmony and spiritual difficulties to potions for protection, love and luck. Although sangoma is a Zulu term that is colloquially used to commonly describe all types of Southern African traditional healers, there are differences between practices: an inyanga is concerned mainly with medicines made from plants and animals, while a sangoma relies primarily on divination for healing purposes and might also be considered a type of fortune teller. In modern times, colonialism, urbanisation, apartheid and cross-cultural mixing have blurred the distinction between the two and traditional healers tend to practice both arts. Traditional healers can alternate between these roles by diagnosing common illnesses, selling and dispensing remedies for medical complaints, and divining cause and providing solutions to spiritually or socially centred complaints. Each culture has their own terminology for their traditional healers. Xhosa traditional healers are known as ''ixwele'' (herbalists) or ''amagqirha'' (diviners). ''Ngaka'' and ''selaoli'' are the terms in Northern Sotho and Southern Sotho respectively, while among the Venda they are called ''mungome''. The Tsonga people refer to their healers as ''n'anga'' or mungoma. ==Beliefs and tradition== A sangoma is a practitioner of ''ngoma'', a philosophy based on a belief in ancestral spirits (Zulu: ''amadlozi''; Sesotho:''badimu''; Xhosa:''izinyanya'') and the practice of traditional African medicine, which is often a mix of medicinal plants and various animal body fats or skin. Sangoma performs a holistic and symbolic form of healing by drawing on the embedded beliefs of the black South African culture who believe that ancestors in the afterlife guide and protect the living. Sangomas are called to heal, and through them it is believed that ancestors from the spirit world can give instruction and advice to heal illness, social disharmony and spiritual difficulties. Traditional healers work in a sacred healing hut or ''indumba'', where they believe their ancestors reside. Where no physical 'indumba' is available, a makeshift miniature sacred place called ''imsamo'' can be used. Sangomas believe they are able to access advice and guidance from the ancestors for their patients through possession by an ancestor, or channelling, throwing bones, or by interpreting dreams. In possession states, the sangoma works themselves into a trance through drumming, dancing and chanting, and allows their ego to step aside for an ancestor to take possession of his or her body and communicate directly with the patient, or dancing fervently beyond their stated ability. The sangoma will provide specific information about the problems of the patient. Some sangomas speak to their patients through normal conversation, whilst others speak in tongues, or languages foreign to their patients, but all languages used by sangomas are indigenous Southern African languages depending on the specific ancestors being called upon. Not all sangomas follow the same rituals or beliefs. Ancestral spirits can be the personal ancestors of the sangoma or the patient or they might be general ancestors associated with the geographic area or the community. It is believed that the spirits have the power to intervene in people's lives who work to connect the sangoma to the spirits that are acting in a manner to cause affliction. For example, a crab could be invoked as a mediator between the human world and the world of spirits because of its ability to move between the world of the land and the sea. Helping and harming spirits are believed to use the human body as a battle ground for their own conflicts. By using ngoma, the sangoma believes they can create harmony between the spirits which is thought to bring an alleviation of the patient's suffering. The sangoma may burn incense (like Imphepho) or sacrifice animals to please the ancestral spirits. Snuff is also used to communicate with the ancestors through prayer. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Traditional healers of South Africa」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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