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Xhosa Heritage - African Traditional Religion

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Ancestors

Izinyanya/amadlozi/badimo/vadzimo/abeZimu refer to those who have died and joined the spiritual world. The departed from this world, the ancestors, are beieved and felt to be the mediators between the living and the spiritual world. Death is not understood as the destruction of life. It is understood as partial physica separation from the living because ancestors sometimes reveal themselves to the members of the family. Consequently, to the clan members the decesead are not dead but "asleep".

The way ancestors are perceived in African life in general pionts to four fundamental beliefs and principles.

A recognition that each human being is made up of not only flesh, bones and blood, but also of spirit or soul.
Death only means the physical separation between this world in which we live and the spiritual world. Therefore only the human body dies and decomposes; the spirit (soul) does not perish. As a result even in the grave bone symbolise life.
As ancestors are part of the community, human relations especially within the clan (family circle) do not die. People come and go, they are born and at some point die, but their relationship, once established, goes on for ever.
In the light of the above, ancestors or the spirits of the departed, play the vital role of intermediaries between the God and human beings.

Adapted from "African Traditional Religion: An introduction for beginners" - by Nokuzola Mndende, Icamagu Institute.