In accounts of initiation in modern schools, 'urbanised' Venda talked of 'treatment' or 'dzithirithiment'. Thus, when describing what is done to a student, they say that a person is 'treated' (-thirithiwa), in much the same way that in the traditional school a novice is shangula'd. Methods of preparation seem to vary, but in my experience it is done in the council hut and not at the novice's home, as van Warmelo reported in 1932 (p. 40). I was asked not to photograph the shangula and subsequent rituals.