ukubuyisa, noun
- Origin:
- IsiZuluShow more IsiZulu, literally ‘to call back’; to retrieve.
Among Zulus: a traditional ceremony performed a year after a death, to call back the departed spirit and integrate it into the community of ancestral guardian spirits.
1955 E.A. Ritter Shaka Zulu 57A platoon of warriors guarded the grave.., and day and night this watch was kept for many moons, until the ukubuyisa (bringing back the spirit) ceremony had been performed.
1990 J. Knappert Aquarian Guide to Afr. Mythology 40The Zulu used to institute a special ceremony called ukubuyisa ‘to bring back’, hoping to induce the spirit of a venerated chief or a helpful and dependable father to take up his residence in his own village again, about a year after his death.
a traditional ceremony performed a year after a death, to call back the departed spirit and integrate it into the community of ancestral guardian spirits.

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