Elders, traditional leaders and custodians hold memories and deep knowledge vital for mapping the sacred ancestral map
Seed of memories from the past, the present and the future will be planted in rich and fertile soil during the Eco-Mapping process in Bikita, Zimbabwe, from 6 to 10 October 2025 This is the culmination of many years of work that started 10 years ago when Method Gundidza returned to his roots in Bikita. He started small with one-on-one dialogues and then community dialogues that eventually inspired and encouraged communities to revive their traditions, their culture and their traditions. Many deep dialogues were held that gradually drew people with the deep knowledge that revived forgotten practises and rituals and brought coherence and united communities. All in accordance with the timing of Spirit.
Over the years, the regular dialogues and exchanges stimulated memories and brought back lots of knowledge. This is particularly true in Chirorwe, where Chief Chirorwe and other knowledgeable elders, the traditional leadership, spirit guides, custodians of the 18 identified Sacred Natural Sites, and members of the community have held numerous dialogues and visited many places to understand what the territory looked like before. This brings back the memory and builds up more detailed pictures of how things used to be.
Sacred sites are places where ancestors and spirits and nature exist. The spiritual custodians, who have this deep spiritual relationship with these places, are essential. They are the centre of governance in indigenous communities. Chiefs and traditional leaders are responsible and accountable to the sacred and to sacred sites, critically important, potent places in indigenous territories. The custodians are the mediators between these potent places and the governance system, ensuring that humans consistently retain a harmonious relationship with the ancestral realm and their territory.
The Colombian Amazonians developed this deep rich process of how to draw these ecological maps and calendars. In November 2009, they gifted this knowledge to indigenous African people during an eco-mapping process they guided in Tshidzivhe, Venda, South Africa.
The sacred ancestral map depicts the original order of the territory before the destruction happened. It draws in the ancestors of the territory and the ancestors of the people. The deeper the memories and the knowledge of the order of the ancestral territory, the more potent that image will be for the next and future generation too.
After the ancestral map, a map of the present is drawn. This shows the disorder. It is invariably very painful and traumatic to realise the damage that has been done, and the chaos humans have created. The contrast between the beauty of the ancestral territory, when people were living in order, and the horror of the disorder, is potent and really important for the community to experience. This is what gives them the energy to then envision the map of the future and what they want, which they also have to map. Typically, communities want to bring back as much as they can of the original order, but this vision for the future needs to be realistic and reflect what is possible.
It is a beautiful, dynamic process to create these maps. There are many realisations on the journey and many new things that emerge. It is one thing to talk and remember knowledge and another thing to draw and to see it recorded on paper and in colour. It is heartwarming to see how elders, who, possibly, have never held a pen, can draw, and to delight in the map that emerges and that they have contributed to. One or two discover that they are natural artists.
At the end, when the three maps have been created, there is a great celebration. Now there is a picture of what they want and where they are headed, based on an understanding of how things were when other beings, the ancestors and the people were in right order with the territory and each other. People are excited and there is a sense of solidarity when they can see that they are already on the journey of what needs to be done… Then the hard work will begin of working together to realise their vision…
