© 2023 Dr Margaret Sheppard
Mention has already been made of the various individual churches' standard uniforms. These uniforms are always given publicly at special church services . These uniforms also denote rank. It should be noted that several members wear specially prophesied articles of dress at services, for example, cloaks (short or long), of certain colours or with specially appliqued decorations, head scarves, or various other types of head gear (such as a mitre-like hat, or sack cloth), some wear different dresses or trousers. These may be specially prophesied for the member to protect him from individual problems. For example at one service I attended a woman "got the Spirit" whilst dancing and then when she had recovered she revealed that the Spirit had shown her that a certain member of the church, a man returning from the mines, had been sick for a long time. He had been sick because he was "having Spirit" and would end up being a prophet. (This is similar to those who are to become traditional doctors.They often start by being ill. This is believed to be caused by their Badimo wanting them to be traditional doctors.) She said that the Spirit had shown her that this man should wear a long red clock and it should have a picture of a moon in white on the right hand side. If he did not follow this she herself would suffer because, whenever she met this man, she would prophesy the same thing. The man replied that this was indeed the case, many times he had felt like crying and tearing his clothes, and other prophets had told him it was because he had too much Spirit and had not yet learned how to handle it.
At the same service a male prophet revealed that the Spirit had shown him that a certain male member should wear a blue gown with a white cross on the back and this would help to protect him because the prophet had seen that he had been bewitched by being given poison. He could 'see"while he was dancing that this poison was in the man's stomach.
Another of my female informants wore a specially prophesied long blue dress and yellow head scarf to protect her. Some wore red head scarves for ailments such as headaches etc. These are only a few of the examples of special clothing that might be prophesied, for individuals to add to their basic uniforms.
Dress
