In 1936, a book that came to be regarded as a classic work of South African social anthropology, Reaction to Conquest by Monica Hunter (later Monica Hunter Wilson), was published.1 It documented the life of the Pondo, generally regarded as a subgroup of the larger Xhosa-speaking peoples of what is now the Eastern Cape. Photographs taken by Hunter were used to illustrate the original edition of the book, and thus to flesh out the written record with visual documentation. The two photographs reproduced here are from a series documenting the initiation of two diviners (amagqira; singular, igqira) in Pondoland in 1931–32, one at Ntontela, the other at 'n Tibane.2 They show two different stages of initiation: the umgidi and the ukuxentsa.

Hunter documented two main classes of "doctors" among the Pondo: diviners (amagqira) and herbalists (amaxhwele), whose functions are not entirely distinct but whose initiations take different forms. The initiation of the igqira is based on the assumption that the initiate has been afflicted with a particular illness, occurring more often in women than in men. This "trouble" (inkathaza) is sent to her by her ancestors (amathonga) and, when it is extreme, can be cured only by ukuthwasa, a process of confession and initiation. The identification of such severe illness in an individual is linked to the propensity of the afflicted person to dream more than most, and to "see" what appears to be a lion, leopard, elephant, or other wild animal in waking visions and in dreams. This "animal" is actually an ityala, an ancestor (ithongo), which remains with the igqira throughout her life. During her illness, the initiate refuses to admit that she has seen an ityala, and it is only when she does so that her initiation can be completed.

The novice, who is secluded inside a hut during her illness, will undergo treatment for it by repeatedly performing a solo dance known as ukuxentsa after she has "confessed" to seeing an ityala. On the last day of the initiation (umgidi), a final confession by the novice is marked by a more elaborate performance: with a crowd gathered around her at her umzi (homestead), she appears naked to the waist, her torso painted with white clay and adorned with idwabe leaves, which she has collected the night before in the bush, using her visionary powers to find them. Her face is also painted with white clay. The designs painted on her torso make her resemble her ityala animal—in this case, a leopard—and she wears a wreath and anklets of the idwabe leaves, which her ityala animal likes to eat.3 The pattern on her torso and the painting on her face appear to link her to the ancestors who have both caused and cured her illness. In this attire, she dances and confesses to having seen her ityala, and thanks the ancestors for curing her.

At some stage on this final day (it is unclear from Hunter's account exactly when), the novice dances ukuxentsa to the clapping of those assembled at her homestead. For this, she is dressed in full regalia, marking a change from her novice status, during which she wore only a short skirt and was adorned with strings of white beads around her waist and neck, but none of the ocher cosmetic that would normally decorate her body. Her attire for this day is predominantly white; her face is painted in stripes with white clay; and she wears numerous strings of white beads, which have been given to her by members of her extended family over the period of her initiation. On her head, she wears a cloth turban with white feathers prominent at the front and strings of white beads hanging from it in front of her ears. She is distinguished from other full-fledged diviners dressed in similar white finery by having her upper torso covered by a short white shift with sleeves.4 Followed by a crowd of onlookers dressed in full traditional costume, the diviners and novice are marked out from the crowd by their predominant whiteness.

Hunter says little about the symbolism of the costume worn by the diviners; in her preface to the 1979 edition of her book, she says that she was unable to obtain explanations for the use of particular symbols.5 However, some speculative explanations are possible: given that the igqira is supposed to have visionary skills, to be able to "see" what ordinary mortals cannot, and that she is guided in this by the ancestors via dreams of her ityala, a link to the spiritual world must be present. The animal forms of the ityala such as the lion and the leopard are creatures that, although long extinct in Pondoland, represent power. The use of white clay may indicate the liminal nature of the igqira herself in the process of divination, as she moves between the realm of the ancestors and the realm of the living in her experience of particular events. In many Xhosa-speaking communities, white is associated with the ancestors, and white clay is used to paint the bodies of male initiates (abakwetha) in the initiation schools.6 White as a color of the spiritual realm is markedly different from the red ocher favored throughout the region as a body cosmetic. Similarly, the white feathers—though from a bird species that has not yet been identified by scholars—would symbolize the diviner's powers of seeing.

After the umgidi ceremony, the diviner begins her own practice,7 divining the causes of illness and misfortune, and treating people, although many who have been initiated never practice as diviners. An individual with a problem generally seeks out a diviner who lives some distance away, and the diviner proceeds to divine the reason for his or her visit. This stands as a test of the diviner's visionary powers, although the process is one in which the diviner acquires important information about the problem by making a series of statements and evaluating the individual's responses to those statements.

Amagqira had a great deal of power in the past, for they were seen to be able to interpret the will of the ancestors: they could command that customs be altered, that new methods of treating illness or planting crops be instituted; they were responsible for identifying witches within the community, and were therefore treated with circumspection and respect. Amagqira often performed public divination sessions in which they would dance until they reached a high pitch of nervous energy, perhaps going into trance, although Hunter expresses great skepticism about the latter.8 In this state, they would recite personal testimonies of their contact with the ancestors in disguised voices, and some—the most highly regarded—were able to impress their audience even further through ventriloquism, so that the mysterious voices appeared to be coming from elsewhere. Befitting their elevated status in Pondo communities, the dress and appearance of diviners made clear their connections with the ancestors, and their wealth was visible in their use of expensive beads and cloth.