 |
 |
Xhosa Heritage - African Traditional Religion
It is very diffucult, at best, to separate the people's belief system from their every day life, customs and norms. Hence the African belief system has since been termed a tradition and not a belief system by foreign nations. This belief system is intertwined into every day life such that one cannot really tell where religion starts and end.It is also through this misclassification by foreigners that the African belief system remain shady and has no uniform universal name through which people can identify and separate it from other belief systems. In Southern Africa, this belief system has come to be known as African Traditional Religion.
The difficulty lies in two parts:- Beliefs cannot be separated from behaviour and customs Many people have come to wrongly classify our belief system as a tradition and not religion, hence people can now be Africans and also participate in rituals and practices of other religions! Our religious practices are frowned upon and labelled backward by the so called educated and enlightened.
- Africa has a diverse cultural heritage Since language is such a significant part of any culture, all African languages have indegenous names for referring to the African belief system. Basotho refer to Setho, which contains Botho, which in turn is practiced by Batho. Setho is a complex concept which refers to the belief system, customs and norms as seen and practiced by the Basotho people. Botho refers to human behavior in the context of Setho. While Batho simply refers to people as defined by the Basotho people.
Problem is, even those Africans who claim to have converted to other belief systems continue to practice many elements of their indegenous religion. This can be seen from rituals that are compulsory at birth and death. Language is a significant portion and element of any cultural grouping. Language is used to communicate these belief systems and practiced based on that understanding. Hence oral dialogue is such an important part of every African life and story.
Every language group has a name for the supreme being as well. Taking Basotho again as an example, they refer to the supreme being as Modimo, Ramasedi, and Tlhatlhamatjholo. Modimo is the generic term used to refer to God. The Xhosa people refer to him as uThixo and uQamata.
It is in this regard that African people never devised a common name for their belief system as it is understood that those who live and practice the beliefs are most qualified to discuss and describe the beliefs. This is evidenced in the use of folklore, stories and the performance of individual rituals with what they signify.There is no biggest injustice and ignorance in this world bigger than making claims that one cannot support with fact and knowledge. The aim of this site is to make a representation of the African people, which is founded and led totally by African people themselves. We hope to dispel such utter arrogance and nonsese with proper and accurate information on who we are as a people.
Camagwini zizwe ezintsundu. Ke re ha e be kgotso, pula e ne matlopotlopo mme kgora le nala di atele bana ba Rantsho.1998 - 2007 Afrikan Virtual Resource and Nalane.
All rights reserved.