Pilgrimage to Ebuhleni where dance, dress and devotion unite in sacred celebration

The story begins more than a century ago, in 1910, when the prophet Isaiah Mdliwamafa Shembe founded the Nazareth Baptist Church, or iBandla lamaNazaretha. Today it is one of the largest African Independent Churches in southern Africa. At its heart lies a simple conviction: Christian belief should not demand that believers abandon who they are.

Oral history among the amaNazaretha tells us that mission churches once forbade converts from wearing traditional dress. In response, Shembe invited worshippers to come as they were, in ibheshu (an animal hide worn by men) or isidwaba (a pleated leather skirt worn by women), garments that spoke of their heritage as integral to their devotion. His son Johannes Galilee Shembe remembered his father’s words clearly: “When God created our first parents, he made coats of skin and made them put these on. Let anybody who so wishes come in ibheshu or isidwaba.”

That invitation endures. 

To this day, millions of church members take pride in their religious attire, often pausing at photo booths during annual pilgrimage festivals to capture themselves in full regalia. The photographs are more than souvenirs; they are living records of faith expressed through cloth and dance.

Travel to Ebuhleni, on the outskirts of Durban, in July and you will see this devotion in motion. Pilgrims stream towards the headquarters of the amaNazaretha for days of prayer, dance and baptism. Booths cluster near market stalls where worshippers line up to be photographed in their festival clothes, knowing the moment will be treasured.

Among the amaNazaretha, worship has two faces: praying (ukukhonza) and dancing (ukusina or ukugida). Daily prayers are private or communal, but the dances belong to the festival. What dances they are: energetic, rhythmic lines of worshippers stamping in unison, long horns moaning into the sky, drums setting a heartbeat for thousands of feet. 

Here, Shembe’s vision of worship animated sacred ritual with traditional movement.

The isikotshi, a dance performed by younger members, may sound like a cousin to Scottish reels, but in truth they are worlds apart. The dance is not about spinning but about striking the ground with conviction, body and soul testifying together. The uniforms worn for these rituals, inspired by white Scottish regiments, were once meant to remind Zulu people of land lost and were a warning never to side with injustice. Times have changed, but the message still ripples through: resist cruelty, resist tyranny, wherever they appear.

Faith is also carried in small symbols. Many amaNazaretha wear an isithombe, an icon of Shembe or one of his successors, pinned to their clothing or strung on beads around the neck. A frame of glass and aluminium protects the photograph, but what it shelters is far more sacrosanct: memory, respect, reverence. To wear one is to carry Shembe with you, and so certain places (the bathroom, or a room with tobacco smoke and alcohol) are not for the icon.

And then there is baptism. For Shembe’s followers, immersion in water is not just a symbol of new life, but also a cleansing of the body itself. It is a ritual that resonates deeply with older African traditions of river purification. At Ebuhleni, hundreds take to a purpose-built pool on the hilltop each July, to wash away their sins and amashwa (bad luck) in waves of prayer and renewal.

To walk among the pilgrims, watching the dancers, seeing the icons pinned to robes or to witness the joy of baptism can be a personal revelation for visitors who take the time to travel to Ebuhleni in July. In my own case, I began to understand how Shembe’s vision has endured. Personally drawn to the pilgrimage to observe the isikotshi dance, intrigued by the incorporation and blending of African and Scottish tradition, my experience was eye-opening. 

It is not just a church but a movement of memory and faith, where prayer is both spoken and danced, and where history lives in the rhythm of song. DM

Words by Steven Kotze, colour photos by Roger Jardine in collaboration with Greg Lomas, and black-and-white photos by Daily Maverick’s Ian Wolstenholme.