African Indigenous Religions

Introduction

African traditional religions were the first recorded religions to grace the plains and coasts of Southern Africa and possibly even the world. The earliest group of people living in Southern Africa has been named the San people. It was thought that San etchings and implements found in caves dated back to between 10 000 and 20 000 years ago (Deacon, 1999). However in 2008 the oldest art to date was found in a cave in Still Bay in Cape Town, called the ‘Blombos’ cave. It was named by Christopher Henshilwood and dates back to 77,000 years (Wits, 2014). This rock art is the earliest depiction of religious experience and belief.

A later group of indigenous people that existed in Southern Africa were the ‘Bantu Speaking Farmers’. The name Bantu speaking farmers referrers to the type of language and the style of settling these people adopted. This group of people had begun moving into Southern Africa at around 300 CE (UNISA, 2014) with very different beliefs and settling patterns to the San.

Therefore, in an effort to clarify the vast differences in traditional religions between the San people and the Bantu speaking farmers. I will briefly explore the different religious beliefs of each group, eventually comparing the two in an effort to clarify why it is not correct to refer to one indigenous African religion.

Who were the San hunter gatherers and what did they believe?

San hunter gatherers were the first to walk the walk the plains of Africa, they moved in small nomadic groups hunting big animals, gathering seeds and skins (Deacon, 1999). They followed the trails and movements of animals and water. Setting up camp in caves at night, where they drew elaborate and detailed images of their transcendental experiences. Ref...

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...San hunter gatherers and the Bantu speaking farmers. It would be entirely incorrect to speak of ‘one African indigenous religion’, or even two, one has to speak of multiple African indigenous religions as there are many rich and colourful beliefs rooted throughout Africa, some of the earliest ever recorded.

References

Deacon H.J & Deacon J. (1999). Human Beginnings in South Africa. Cape Town David Philip Plublishers. Pg 129, 131-190.

UNISA (2010). The Anthropological Study of Culture in a Multicultural Context.Mucklneuk, Pretoria UNISA Press.

UNISA (2014). Tutorial Letter 501/3 (2014). Comparative religious studies: introduction to the religions of the world. Pretoria: UNISA.

University of Witwatersrand Johannesburg (n.d). Rock Art of Africa. http://www.wits.ac.za/academic/science/geography/rock%20art/aboutrockart/14758/about_rock_art.html (Accessed March 5, 2014)