Djyg

This paper examines the origins and functions of the djyg in the Pinkster (Pentecostal) Church on the Cape Flats in Cape Town, South Africa. Loosely translating to ‘rejoice’ in English, djyg is a sacred dance rooted in the Pinkster church and characterized by its unrehearsed and spontaneous nature that provides a sense of embodied, spiritual, and emotional liberation and relief and allows believers to connect to the Divine. By applying Richard Schechner’s (1985) theory of performance as ‘restoration of behaviour’, djyg is analysed as a sacred ritual that both enables resistance from longstanding cultural and spiritual challenges experienced by coloured communities on the Cape Flats and restores the body, spirit, and community to a state of divine healing.