igqira

igqira

English

Noun

igqira

1. (South Africa) A traditional tribal diviner or spiritual healer.
   • 1963, Anna Margaretha Louw, 20 Days that Autumn:

     He said: ‘It is the igqira—the diviner. There are mafufunyana—evil spirits—in this house!’

   • 1978, André Brink, Rumours of Rain, Vintage 2000, p. 357:

     “I went to see the witchdoctor, the igqira. And he spoke to the izinyanya, the spirits of the ancestors.”

   • 2008, Jonny Steinberg, Sizwe's Test, p. 129:

     The following day, the proceeds of his first job in his pocket, Sizwe took his parents to town and into the consiulting room of the most famous and respected igqira in Lusikiski.