thwasa, noun and & adjective

/ˈtwɑːsə//ˈtwaːsa/
Forms:
Also twasa, ukuthwasa.
Origin:
IsiXhosa, IsiZuluShow more IsiXhosa and isiZulu, become possessed by a spirit; undergo initiation as a diviner; undergo renewal.
A. noun The process or period during which an initiate studying to be a diviner or traditional doctor develops the powers of a medium; the psychological manifestations of a calling to become a diviner; transferred sense, the person so affected.
1860 W. Shaw Story of my Mission 447The proper practitioners, or..the native Priests of the higher grade, are initiated into their office by a peculiar process, called ukutwasa...The word which expressed this initiatory process, ukutwasa, means ‘renewal’, and is the same that is used for the first appearance of the new moon.
1860 W. Shaw Story of my Mission 448Whenever they (sc. the ‘priests’) are satisfied that the individual is really in a state of ukutwasa, and that he is no pretender or impostor, they finally admit him to their order.
1866 W.C. Holden Past & Future 286Having gone through these outward preparations, he experiences an inward change, real or imaginary, expressed by the term, ukutwasa, which signifies ‘change of the moon’. Thenceforth, he is a new man, and holds intercourse with spiritual beings. This description applies, with some variations, to all the Kaffir races.
1907 W.C. Scully By Veldt & Kopje 82The members of his family became uneasy and held anxious consultations over his unsatisfactory state. Eventually they came to the conclusion that he was undergoing the preliminary mental and moral disturbances incidental to the ‘twasa’ or spiritual change which comes over those who possess the vocation for witch-doctorship.
1937 B.J.F. Laubscher Sex, Custom & Psychopathology 31The ukutwasa is the period of psychic abnormality which a person must experience before the full development of mediumistic powers.
1955 J.B. Shephard Land of Tikoloshe 84Ukuthwasa, as the Africans call this state of mind, is something that I must leave to the psychiatrists to explain. All I can say is that it is accompanied by strange hallucinations, hysteria, and often lycanthropy, and is recognized by the Bantu tribes as a normal preliminary to becoming a full-blown witch doctor.
1962 W.D. Hammond-Tooke Bhaca Soc.The diviner’s cult is esoteric and open only to the few who have received the ‘call’ and become ill with thwasa; the herbalist’s calling is open to all who have the necessary diligence to learn the many medicines and who apprentice themselves to a master.
1975 S. Afr. Panorama Nov. 21The animal is slaughtered, the bladder taken, its contents drunk by the twasa and the inflated bladder tied into her hair.
B. adjective Of or pertaining to the state of psychic sensitivity or abnormality experienced by one suited to the profession of sangoma; (of a person) predisposed to such a state, or in such a state.
1937 B.J.F. Laubscher Sex, Custom & Psychopathology 35He claims that the true ukutwasa states are rare and that many so-called ukutwasa conditions are loss of senses, which may be due to witchcraft or mild ukutwasa states not properly treated.
1954 W.D. Hammond-Tooke in A.M. Duggan-Cronin Bantu Tribes III. v. 39Isangoma are called to their profession by the dreams in which an ancestor shows them the medicines they should use. Initiation is preceded by a period of sickness when the novice is said to be ukuthwasa.
1980 E. Joubert Long Journey of Poppie Nongena 275Your husband’s grandma was thwasa, as a child I knew I was thwasa and must do the work. You are thwasa too, said the old woman, but you fight against it. Thwasa means to be able to talk to the ancestors, the izinyanya, thwasa is to have ears for words which others cannot hear.
1984 S. Afr. Panorama Dec. 43Once the thwasa person has reached a certain level of healing, a series of ceremonies takes place over an extended period. The highlight is a four-day ceremony, at the end of which an ox is slaughtered, and the ‘graduate’ receives a white blanket to wear around his shoulders, as well as an assegaai and other emblems to indicate his status as a qualified iggira.
The process or period during which an initiate studying to be a diviner or traditional doctor develops the powers of a medium; the psychological manifestations of a calling to become a diviner; transferred sense, the person so affected.
Of or pertaining to the state of psychic sensitivity or abnormality experienced by one suited to the profession of sangoma; (of a person) predisposed to such a state, or in such a state.
Derivatives:
Hence thwasa  intransitive verb, to undergo the spiritual initiation into the profession of ‘sangoma’.
1987 Pace Aug. 10The black girl sharing a house or flat with her white hubby is soon called upon to ‘thwasa’ (called by the spirits to become sangoma). The spirits will prick and hammer her in her sleep and in her social jaunts.
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thwasa, v.

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