Traditional healers, or izangoma in Zulu, are an important aspect of African forms of spirituality and medicine. Across different cultures on the continent, these individuals often receive a calling from their respective ancestors to become healers within a specific realm. In South Africa, traditional healers typically go through many months of tutelage by an elder who acts as their guide and teaches them: how to tap into their particular gift (e.g., the power of prayer, herbalism and traditional medicine, prophecy, etc.); connect with their ancestors in a ritual called ukuphahla (Zulu); better understand what they’re meant to do not only in their own lives but the lives of others. 

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South African practitioners usually wear distinctive outfits that easily identify them, with beads forming a significant aspect; they communicate their line of work and heritage. Several aspects of the beads themselves, from size to type to position and more, signify the specific requests of the person’s forebears. For example, two healers may wear blue beads that represent water spirits, but their placements will differ depending on ethnicity. In Zulu culture, a healer will wear small blue beads as amulets on only their wrists to translate water spirituality, but Xhosa people will wear slightly larger blue beads around the wrists, ankles, neck and even their waist. 

Though placement, size and frequency all shape implications of and for healers, bead colour has the greatest influence. Early on in the journey of isangoma, they will be shown the specific beads they are required to wear either through dreams or visions brought about by their ancestors. Healers then have the autonomy and authority to create jewellery to reflect these spiritual findings in line with their ancestral and ethnic customs, of course. These adornments are deemed as sacred as a wedding band as it is believed that these beads provide spiritual protection. Most people never remove them once placed, besides under exceptional circumstances, like in the face of discrimination or physical harm. Such exemptions were particularly relevant during the Apartheid era, in which the government banned traditional healing and accompanying medicines. Some negative sentiments regarding these practitioners remain today as a lasting legacy of this political suppression.

AMAKA spoke to Johannesburg-based Zulu traditional healer Gogo Dungamanzi on the significance of colour within traditional healing. She said, “I can’t just wear green or orange beads, for example, without first dreaming about them. And you’re usually handed these beads by an elder like a great grandmother or great grandfather — even up to the fourth generation. You will know then that you need to obtain the beads that were shown to you in the dream.”

With this in mind, we dissected the meanings behind five bead colours and how they affect traditional medicinal practices.  

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Red Beads

Red symbolises ancestors who are specifically blood relatives — typically a great grandfather or great grandmother from either the paternal or maternal side of the family. Though the colour red can represent any relative, the focus on great grandparents points to the reverence given to the role of grandparents in the structure of many African family units. This spiritual legacy is continued generationally from healer to healer in training. Bear in mind that not all ancestors have to be related by blood.

Transparent and Blue Beads

AmaNdau (water spirits in Zulu, UmNdau is the singular form) are depicted through family totems or sea animals that are prominent within South African folklore, particularly the Nguni people. These predecessors are also represented by transparent and blue beads. Alternative practitioners wear light blue beads within Xhosa culture, while darker blues are prevalent in Zulu customs — another example of how ethnicity informs beading.

On this, Dungamanzi says, “Let’s say your totem is a crab or a crocodile, and you go down to the river or the ocean to pray and immediately see that animal thereafter; that is a sign that whatever you were praying for has been heard or acknowledged by the ancestors.” She expands on this by detailing the ancestral connection to totems, “It gets even deeper because I don’t eat seafood. I get really sick because sea animals represent my water ancestors. They would rather you not eat certain foods because you can find that you no longer dream or remember your dreams entirely.” 

White Beads

White beads generally represent innocence or purity and are used in African jewellery to display morality, especially beads worn around the waist of women and girls, reflecting their virginity. It’s possible colonialism in South Africa, and its subsequent importation of Christianity have influenced this interpretation. Ubungoma (Zulu for the practice of being a healer), among other cultural customs and beliefs, are not static and are subject to Western imperialist influence as much as any other system.

Another reading of white beads signals an acceptance of one’s spiritual calling. Indeed, it’s important to note that not everyone accepts their calling due to the historic criminalisation of African spirituality as “witchcraft”, again, as the product of European Christian hegemony in the region. Engaging in traditional healing, even today, can lead to aforementioned discrimination and social conflict, with many Christian South Africans deeming ubungoma as diametrically opposed to notions of virtue within their own religion. This backdrop can also inform an internal crisis of identity. Conversely, an acceptance of one’s calling is accompanied by stability now that the ancestors’ wishes have been satisfied, with white beads also reflecting this feeling of peace. 

Yellow Beads

Yellow symbolises the gift of prophecy, referred to as isithunywa in Zulu. Healers will use a combination of prophecy, prayer and water during their rituals. We can apply these proceedings to the context of someone who has lost their job as an example. They may seek out a prophecy to find out how they should proceed, whether or not they can expect another job and in which time frame. This person will also require specific prayers to protect them emotionally and spiritually during this vulnerable time.

Black Beads

In African Spirituality, black beads indicate mystery and the great unknown as well as the notion of unconscious power. These beads identify those granted the gift of ubugedla (herbalism in Zulu). Herbalists use this ancestral power to guide their process when making and delivering remedies for ailments such as menstrual irregularities, arthritis, open wounds, stomach ulcers, nosebleeds and more.