Khoisan religion

The religion of the Khoisan people of Southern Africa draws from rituals, folk-tales and legends. The Khoisan are divided into two groups, the Khoikhoi and the San, and although each culture has its own religious tradition, there is overlap in their respective belief systems.

Contents

Legendary Figures

Trancing

To enter the spirit world, trancing has to be initiated by a shaman through the hunting of a tutelary spirit or power animal. [24] The eland often serves as power animal.[25] The fat of the eland is used symbolically in many rituals including initiations and rites of passage. Other animals such as giraffe, kudu and hartebeest can also serve this function.

Psychologists have investigated hallucinations and altered states of consciousness in neuropsychology. They found that entoptic phenomena can occur through rhythmic dancing, music, sensory deprivation, hyperventilation, prolonged and intense concentration and migraines.[26] The psychological approach explains rock art through three trance phases. In the first phase of trance an altered state of consciousness would come about. People would experience geometric shapes commonly known as entoptic phenomena. These would include zigzags, chevrons, dots, flecks, grids, vortices and U-shapes. These shapes can be found especially in rock engravings of Southern Africa.

During the second phase of trance people try to make sense of the entoptic phenomena. They would elaborate the shape they had ‘seen’ until they had created something that looked familiar to them. Shamans experiencing the second phase of trance would incorporate the natural world into their entoptic phenomena, visualizing honeycombs or other familiar shapes.

In the third phase a[radical transformation occurs in mental imagery. The most noticeable change is that the shaman becomes part of the experience. Subjects under laboratory conditions have found that they experience sliding down a rotating tunnel, entering caves or holes in the ground. People in the third phase begin to lose their grip on reality and hallucinate monsters and animals of strong emotional content. In this phase therianthropes in rock painting can be explained, as heightened sensory awareness gives one the feeling that they have undergone a physical transformation.[27]

A San trance dance featuring the San of Ghanzi, Botswana appeared in BBC Television's Around the World in 80 Faiths on 16 January 2009.

Rock Art

Pictographs can be found across Southern Africa in places such as the cave sandstone of Natal, Orange Free State and North-Eastern Cape, the granite and Waterberg sandstone of the Northern Transvaal, the Table Mountain sandstone of the Southern and Western Cape. [28] Images of conflict and war-making are not uncommon.[29] There are also often images of therianthrophic entities which have both human and animal traits and are connected to the notion of trancing, but these represent only a fraction of all rock art representations.[30] Most commonly portrayed are animals such as the eland, although grey rhebok and hartebeest are also in rock art in places such as Cederberg and Warm Bokkeveld. At uKhahlamba / Drakensberg Park there are paintings thought to be some 3,000 years old which depict humans and animals, and are thought to have religious significance.

External links

References

Notes

  1. ^ a b Hastings, p.522
  2. ^ Lewis-Williams (2000), p.143
  3. ^ Moore, p.113
  4. ^ Meletinsky, p.169
  5. ^ http://khoisan.org/religion.htm
  6. ^ a b McNamee, p.52
  7. ^ a b c Solomon, p.63
  8. ^ a b c d McNamee, p.53
  9. ^ Lang, p.146
  10. ^ Lewis-Williams (2000), p.143
  11. ^ Barnard, p.84
  12. ^ a b Lewis-Williams (2000), p.145
  13. ^ Lewis-Williams (2000), p.146
  14. ^ a b Lewis-Williams (2000), p.148
  15. ^ a b c David Chidester, Chirevo Kwenda, Robert Petty, Judy Tobler, Darrel Wratten (1997). African Traditional Religion in South Africa: An Annotated Bibliography. pp. 68–70. ISBN 0313304742. 
  16. ^ Andrew Lang (1901). Myth, Ritual and Religion vol. 1. pp. 172. 
  17. ^ a b Arthur Flagg Cotterell (1986). A Dictionary of World Mythology. Oxford University Press. pp. 242. ISBN 0-192-17747-8. 
  18. ^ James George Frazer, Robert Fraser (1994). The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion. Oxford University Press. pp. 224. ISBN 1853263109. 
  19. ^ Edwin Sidney Hartland (1909). Primitive Paternity Or the Myth of Supernatural Birth in Relation to the History of the Family. pp. 4. ISBN 0766167100. 
  20. ^ http://khoisan.org/religion.htm
  21. ^ Lang, p.124
  22. ^ http://khoisan.org/religion.htm
  23. ^ Hahn, Theophilus (1881). Tsuni-Goam: The Supreme Being of the Khoi-Khoi. Routledge. pp. 64–67. 
  24. ^ Jolly, Pieter (2002). Therianthropes in San Rock Art "The South African Archaeological Bulletin", 57(176):85-103
  25. ^ Lewis-Williams (1987). A Dream of Eland: An Unexplored Component of San Shamanism and Rock Art "World Archaeology", 19(2):165-177
  26. ^ Fagan, Brian M (1998). From Black Land to Fifth Sun: The Science of Sacred Sites. Basic Books ISBN 9780738201412
  27. ^ Fagan, Brian M (1998). From Black Land to Fifth Sun: The Science of Sacred Sites. Basic Books ISBN 9780738201412
  28. ^ Standard Encyclopaedia of Southern Africa (1973)
  29. ^ Campbell, C (1986). "Images of War: A Problem in San Rock Art Research "World Archaeology", 18(2):255-268
  30. ^ Jolly, Pieter (2002). Therianthropes in San Rock Art "The South African Archaeological Bulletin", 57(176):85-103

Sources