Sydney Mathebula, chairperson of the Alex Traditional Healers and Indigenous Religious Leaders Association.
The Christmas and New Year holiday is a time for merriment, celebration and helping those in need.
In their different groupings, associations, cultures and religions, all citizens will be looking to maximise their holiday enjoyment, but often in the process, some tend to disregard and disrespect others.
“Most of us use the time to celebrate and worship different faiths and beliefs with none superior to the others. Practices that have benefited us for centuries… should be respected without judgment,” said Sydney Mathebula, chairperson of the Alex Traditional Healers and Indigenous Religious Leaders’ Association.
Sydney Mathebula, chairperson of the Alex Traditional Healers and Indigenous Religious Leaders Association.
Mathebula urged, in particular Africans, to respect and try to learn from each other’s cultures while also getting closer to their own, especially those who will be spending the time in rural areas. “Try and find out more about your heritage from the elderly who are still alive, visit family graves as remembrance, conduct clan sacrifices and rituals as a way to thank the higher or ancestral power and seek guidance for your future,” he said, guaranteeing that doing so will certainly be helpful against one’s future challenges.
He urged those intending to maim or kill others in this period to desist from doing so in the name of clan conflict, as no culture promoted killing. “Those doing so often have ulterior motives from the misguidance of bogus healers as gateways to prosperity, which never last. Our association says no to such acts.
“We are the custodians of different cultures and, vanguards of various heritages with an aim to ensure peaceful co-existence.”
