Zulu War Memorial

Subject: Zulu War Memorial Sun Jun 06, 2010 3:41 pm

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Umphafa is the type of tree in the memorial (acacia). It's said to bring the spirits of the ancestors so that they can be buried. After the battle, family members of killed Zulus would've taken branches of imiphafa (that's plural for umphafa) and waved them around over the battlefield to capture the spirit of their deceased relative, then they would've taken the branch home and used it in the burial ceremony to lay their soul to rest. Interesting.

Subject: Re: Zulu War Memorial Mon Jun 07, 2010 9:57 am

The umphafa tree is not an acaia, but belongs to the Rhamnaceae family, Ziziphus mucronata or commonly known as the Buffalo Thorn or in Afrikaans "Blink blaar-wag-n-bietjie". In Zulu it is also called" umlahlankosi " referring to the fact that it is used to bring home the deceased chief! This ritual is still practisced widely amongst my Zulu workers: when a relative passed away distant from his home village, his spirit is brought home using a branch of this tree.

» Anglo Zulu War Memorial Pietermaritzburg
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» Memorial to men of the 2nd Btn 24th Regiment killed during the Zulu War.