A fascinating quality of the ZCC uniform is that it also fulfils a protective functionality. At various times, during prophesying sessions, I was advised to acquire the blue choir dress, because this would enhance my process of healing and protect me against further spells of misfortune (Personal experiences 2002–2003, 2011). According to Moruti Mampuru this kind of ditaelo is given to men as well, though they are instructed to participate in the mokhukhu and therefore have to wear the special mokhukhu uniform (Personal communication 2003). Comaroff (1985:205) stated that the uniforms of most Spirit-type (Zionist) AICs in South Africa are believed to be “infused with power that encases the body of the wearer like a shield”. Hence, the uniform will also enhance a feeling of safety. Kiernan (1990:112) encountered this same phenomenon among the urban Zulu Zionists. It has now become clear that the church attire is also used as an instrument of healing. In terms of the origination of this practice Mosupyoe (1999:135) wrote that one of her research participants had suggested that it could be “associated with Acts 19:1231 in the Bible where Paul’s clothes are used to cure the diseases”.
My prescription (ditaelo) to acquire the blue choir dress appears to have implied that it would be better for my health to become a baptised member because only baptised members are allowed to wear any of the ZCC uniforms. Next to becoming a baptised member wearing of the dress suggested that I had to sing in the choir. I have been told by various members, especially during Wednesday services, that the singing of sacred church songs brings about healing to the singer as well as to those to whom these songs are dedicated. The singing of church songs, but also listening to church songs is for example used as ditaelo as explained at section 5.2.2 (Personal experiences 2002–2003, 2011). By implication, because listening to church songs is used as an instrument of healing, singers also become actively involved in the healing process of their fellow participants and therefore I have described them as “instruments of healing” as well.
31 Acts 19:12 in the New Testament of the Good News Bible (1981) reads “Even handkerchiefs and aprons he had used were taken to those who were ill, and their diseases were driven away, and the evil spirits would go out of them”.
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The majority of my research participants displayed no specific awareness of the exact meanings connected to each colour used in the uniforms (see Anderson 2000:163; Daneel 1974:164). Most said that khaki, green, yellow and blue are the official colours of the church and therefore sacred colours. Others explained in different words that the colours of the church enhanced the sacred process of healing, protection, peace and prosperity. According to Comaroff (1985:223) traditionally the more southern black African societies seemed to associate blue and green with “rain, water, freshness, and growth”. This explains to a certain degree the responses Mosupyoe (1999:85) received from the female ZCC members she interviewed. She (1999) said that they had told her that green symbolised “wealth and plenty”, which she interpreted to imply that “the church will continue to grow in membership and members will gain spiritual wealth”. Yellow was indicated to symbolise the sun and a flower like the sunflower, but no further explanation of its meaning was given. The blue of the choir dress was explained as representing “the clear sky and clarity of the mind”, which Mosupyoe (1999:85) interpreted as symbolising the “spiritual intelligence of ZCC members”.
Nchabeleng (1983:11 as quoted by Müller 2011:37) wrote that the original green, black and blue were chosen by the first Bishop Engenas Lekganyane and explained that:
… [t]he green symbolises the glorious green world of God in which they walk. The blue symbolises protection from physical sickness and witch-craft. Under the heavens and on earth, they are protected by the almighty God and the Bishop’s power. The black piece of cloth is the mourning sign. If a family has lost a member it does not need to wear a black dress or skirt because of the presence of the black material on the breast.
Nchabeleng, however, did not explain the origins or possible symbolic meanings of the colours yellow, khaki and white.
I could not find any explanation for the khaki colour used in the ZCC attire other than in Anderson (2000:163) who noted that this colour seemingly signified “uniformity”. According to West (1975:18) most Spirit-type AICs are characterised by the colour white in their uniforms that symbolises cleanliness and purity (see Daneel 1974:163;
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Turner 1968:511). In the ZCC only the mokhukhu boots are white. Comaroff (1985:243) argued that the boots represent an important emblem of the ZCC and being white might signify the activation of “spiritual power”. She (1985:242) further argued that the absence of white in the ZCC dress “may be associated with the more routinised form of charismatic power operant in this church; it may also be due to the fact that its members live more fully in the industrial world, and seek bolder appropriations of its large-scale secular structures”.
A general interpretation of how colours are used in Zionist AICs in Kwazulu-Natal was given by Kiernan (1991:36) who argued that:
… white and blue-green [according to him Zulu-speakers do not differentiate between blue and green] are employed in two different ways: (1) instrumentally, for the practical purpose of affirming group solidarity and group distinctiveness in situations where group parameters might possibly be blurred and eroded; (2) symbolically, to express renewal associated with healing and the recovery of health; the great renewal of Zionist incorporation in the first instance, followed by numerous complementary recoveries from exposure to sorcery.
This explanation might also have relevance for the uses of colour in the ZCC attire.
Sundkler (1961:213) had already mentioned the difficulty in finding generally accepted meanings attached to specific colours; he noted that the colours used in the attires of Spirit-type AICs are usually dictated by dreams (see Kiernan 1991:31, 35). It is, therefore, difficult to generalise the symbolic meanings of colours used in AICs, especially if the context in which these colours were decided upon is unknown (Anderson 2000:163; see West 1975:115–116). Thomas (1999:91), for example, noted that the characteristic uniform of the St John’s Apostolic Faith Mission (AFM) of Guguletu was blue and white. Mother Nku, who is the initiator and first leader of this church, had chosen these colours because they were shown to her in a vision. Due to this they were believed to have sacred healing powers.
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Comaroff (1985:222) stated that “in the construction of novel formulations” she has noted that colours “simultaneously retain their earlier significance and acquire new meanings”. Mosupyoe’s (1999) research, therefore, added valuable insight into a more recent interpretation of the colours used in the ZCC attire. According to Kiernan (1991:35) it is, however, clear that “there is a need for further and more sustained research into the colour symbolism employed by modern Zionists, in the absence of which one should always be wary of drawing definitive conclusions”.