Xhosa Religion

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Recommended: Peculiarities of African traditional religion

The Xhosa people like many other people in the world hold their religion in high regards. It is the center of their lives and culture. They like many others have been practicing their religion for many years. The Xhosa people live in Africa. Christian missionary’s came to their villages and converted many of the people to Christianity. Instead of switching their beliefs the Xhosa people combined their own traditional religion with that of Christianity. In this paper I will show how the two religions fit together. To show this comparison let’s look first at some aspects of the Xhosa religion. “The amaXhosa live mostly in the Eastern Cape, South Africa, in an area stretching off the KwaZulu-Natal border to the Eastern Cape Zuurveld.”(Venter, …show more content…

The ancestors are seen as being closer to God than the actual people of Africa. That is one of the reasons they communicate with them. The Xhosa people also make animal sacrifices to the ancestors. This helps keep the connection between the spiritual and material world intact. To help people stay connected with their ancestors the Xhosa people have what’s “referred to as a sangoma or a ‘traditional healer’.” (Manganyi and Buitendag, pg2) The sangoma acts as the middleman between the physical and spiritual world. They communicate with the families and the spirits. For this to happen the family will sacrifice an animal and they end the ritual by burning the animal’s …show more content…

“The main source of these religions is the belief in God and his attributes. Several scholars have demonstrated the fact that AIR believe in the Supreme God, the creator of the heavens and the earth.”(Adamo, David T., pg8) This teaching is very important and the fact that both religions understand this is quite a significant step forward. “Another factor that may bring Africans closer to Jesus Christ is sacrificial offering.”(Manganyi and Buitendag, pg9) Instead of the Xhosa people sacrificing animals with the sangoma to talk with the ancestors. It could become the Xhosa participating in the sacrifice of the mass with a Priest and prayer to the saints. The saints could take the place of the ancestors because the Xhosa people saw the ancestors as closer to God and the Catholics believe that the saints are closer to God. In the religious practice of the Xhosa they have what is called an umsebenzi which can become the church service in which they do their sacrifices and pray to the ancestors or

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