THE Modjadji royal family, renowned for its rain-making prowess, has "for the first time in history" failed to bring rain to Limpopo.
THE Modjadji royal family, renowned for its rain-making prowess, has "for the first time in history" failed to bring rain to Limpopo.
The family has for centuries succeeded in bringing rain to the province during its annual rain-making ceremonies.
Each year in October the five close-knit families - Mathekga, Molokwane, Mampeule, Matswhi and Marwatsehla - come together and meditate with ancestors to bring rain to the province.
According to tradition the family blows its rain-making horn next to a sacred cycad tree, believed to be more than 1000 years old, and meditate with its ancestors - pleading for rain.
The rain queen or regent, currently Mpapatla Modjaji, feeds Mokgadi (an anointed black cow) with Mpapho (home-made brew) and then pours the brew on to the sacred tree at a place called Thokoleng.
Mpapatla would then feed the same brew to family members "to cleanse and give them powers".
Soon after the ceremony rain would fall, filling rivers and dams - but that was not the case this year. The five families assembled each week in October until last Saturday.
But Bolobedu and other parts of the Mopani area are still without rain. The district has since been declared a disaster area .
Spokesperson for the family and council Clement Modjadji yesterday admitted that their ancestors had not responded as the families had expected.
"We admit that our ceremony did not yield any results this year, but we are in communication with them to shower us with rain," he said.
According to residents in the area they believed rain would fall last month when the royal families held their ceremony.
"We have now concluded that rain comes from God and that no human being can claim to have the powers to make rain," said one of the villagers in the area.
Modjadjis fail to bring the rain
THE Modjadji royal family, renowned for its rain-making prowess, has "for the first time in history" failed to bring rain to Limpopo.
THE Modjadji royal family, renowned for its rain-making prowess, has "for the first time in history" failed to bring rain to Limpopo.
The family has for centuries succeeded in bringing rain to the province during its annual rain-making ceremonies.
Each year in October the five close-knit families - Mathekga, Molokwane, Mampeule, Matswhi and Marwatsehla - come together and meditate with ancestors to bring rain to the province.
According to tradition the family blows its rain-making horn next to a sacred cycad tree, believed to be more than 1000 years old, and meditate with its ancestors - pleading for rain.
The rain queen or regent, currently Mpapatla Modjaji, feeds Mokgadi (an anointed black cow) with Mpapho (home-made brew) and then pours the brew on to the sacred tree at a place called Thokoleng.
Mpapatla would then feed the same brew to family members "to cleanse and give them powers".
Soon after the ceremony rain would fall, filling rivers and dams - but that was not the case this year. The five families assembled each week in October until last Saturday.
But Bolobedu and other parts of the Mopani area are still without rain. The district has since been declared a disaster area .
Spokesperson for the family and council Clement Modjadji yesterday admitted that their ancestors had not responded as the families had expected.
"We admit that our ceremony did not yield any results this year, but we are in communication with them to shower us with rain," he said.
According to residents in the area they believed rain would fall last month when the royal families held their ceremony.
"We have now concluded that rain comes from God and that no human being can claim to have the powers to make rain," said one of the villagers in the area.
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