The Cross in Christianity

During Easter weekend, the biblical cross rises high, as Christians march to church, to observe what Religious Studies teachers told us. A man called Jesus died and resurrected.

What is suprising is that, the cross is a foreign symbol in Africa, therefore, it should have an ‘Africanized’ word, like motor car, which Africans call imoto. If it is not indigenous to languages such as Zulu, Xhosa, Sesotho or Venda, it is foreign and is given a local name. This is how we ‘Africanized’ foreign words.

Portuguese: ama-Putukezi

Germans: ama-Jalimane

English: ama-Ngisi

Jews: ama-Juda

The cross, the biblical cross has a Zulu name: isiphambano. Pure Zulu word. Africans did not call it something like kho-rosi. They called it isiphambano because -phambana, the Zulu word means opposite directions. We meet on the road, I’m from the market, but you are just going there. -phambana means different opinion, -phambana means Gail visiting Khosi, and Khosi’s mother says: “Ni-phambene no Khosi,” which means you just missed each other. Phambana also means mad, stark raving mad, because things are crossed in your head. “Are you crazy?”

The cross the British brought to Africa has two panels, that meet in the middle. Africans looked at it and saw something that denotes cross purposes, cross roads. One goes left, the other right and also north and south. It became their life. Christians looked down upon traditional ancestor worship and hung pictures of Jesus with a garland of thorns on the wall. I think that is the logical explanation of why a foreign symbol, has a Zulu word, not something 'Africanized' like calling a motor car, imoto. A cross is called isiphambano in Zulu.

Nonqaba waka Msimang

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