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Divination Bones
Divination bones (Sotho-Tswana languages: ''ditaola'', isiZulu: ''amathambo'') are pieces of bones and vertebrae, carved ivory dice and cowrie shells used for divination. It is widely known in South Africa where traditional healers, especially of the Bantu people for divination. Mokgale Makgopa and Magaelane Koma of the University of Venda wrote that divination bones can consist of coins, dominoes, pieces of metal and gems and other things of significance to the healer. See also * Scapulimancy Scapulimancy (also spelled scapulomancy and scapulamancy, also termed omoplatoscopy or speal bone reading) is the practice of divination by use of scapulae or speal bones (shoulder blades). It is most widely practiced in China and the Sinosphere ... References {{Reflist Traditional African religions Traditional African medicine Traditional medicine Traditional African religions stubs Traditional African religions portal Bantu peoples of South Africa Objects used for divinati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Venda People
The Venḓa (VhaVenḓa or Vhangona) are a Bantu people native to Southern Africa living mostly near the South African-Zimbabwean border. The Venda language arose from interactions with Sotho-Tswana and Kalanga groups from 1400. The Venda are closely associated with the 13th century Kingdom of Mapungubwe where oral tradition holds King Shiriyadenga as the first king of Venda and Mapungubwe. The Mapungubwe Kingdom stretched from the Soutpansberg in the south, across the Limpopo River to the Matopos in the north. The Kingdom rapidly declined around 1300 due to climatic change and the population scattered, as power moved north to the Great Zimbabwe Kingdom. The first Venda settlement in the Soutpansberg was that of the legendary chief Thoho-ya-Ndou (Head of the Elephant). His royal kraal was called D’zata; its remains have been declared a National Monument. The Mapungubwe Collection is a museum collection of artefacts found at the archaeological site and is housed in t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Badimo
Badimo (Sotho-Tswana literally meaning "ancestors") is the name for the traditional African practice of ancestor veneration for the Sotho-Tswana people of Botswana, Lesotho and South Africa. Although most Sotho-Tswana people are Christians, in reality a great majority of them follow at least some of the traditions deemed ''Badimo'' even if they are strong followers of another religion as well. The term "Badimo", although usually translated as "ancestors" does not simply refer to people who are now dead, but rather to the "living dead". In the traditional African worldview, deceased ancestors continue to be present and are actively included in the daily life of individuals and tribes. It is believed that when someone dies, they go to live in the underworld The underworld, also known as the netherworld or hell, is the supernatural world of the dead in various religious traditions and myths, located below the world of the living. Chthonic is the technical adjective for thin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sotho-Tswana Languages
The Sotho-Tswana, also known as the Sotho or Basotho, although the term is now closely associated with the Southern Sotho peoples are a meta-ethnicity of Southern Africa. They are a large and diverse group of people who speak Sotho-Tswana languages. The group is predominantly found in Botswana, Lesotho, South Africa, and the western part of Zambia. Smaller groups can also be found in Namibia and Zimbabwe. The Sotho-Tswana people would have diversified into their current arrangement during the course of the 2nd millennium, but they retain a number of linguistic and cultural characteristics that distinguish them from other Bantu-speakers of southern Africa. These are features such as totemism/ diboko a pre-emptive right of men to marry their maternal cousins, and an architectural style characterized by a round hut with a conical thatch roof supported by wooden pillars on the outside. Other major distinguishing features included their dress of skin cloaks and a preference ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
IsiZulu
Zulu ( ), or isiZulu as an endonym, is a Southern Bantu language of the Nguni branch spoken in, and indigenous to, Southern Africa. Nguni dialects are regional or social varieties of the Nguni language, distinguished by vocabulary, pronunciation, grammar, and other linguistic features. So, Zulu is one of the Nguni dialects which is spoken by the Zulu people, with about 13.56 million native speakers, who primarily inhabit the province of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. The word "KwaZulu-Natal" translates into English as "Home of the Zulu Nation is Natal". Zulu is the most widely spoken home language in South Africa (24% of the population), and it is understood by over 50% of its population. It became one of South Africa's 12 official languages in 1994. According to Ethnologue, it is the second-most widely spoken of the Bantu languages, after Swahili. Like many other Bantu languages, it is written with the Latin alphabet. In South African English, the language is often referred ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Divination
Divination () is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of an occultic ritual or practice. Using various methods throughout history, diviners ascertain their interpretations of how a should proceed by reading signs, events, or omens, or through alleged contact or interaction with supernatural agencies such as ghost, spirits, gods, god-like-beings or the "will of the universe". Divination can be seen as an attempt to organize what appears to be random so that it provides insight into a problem or issue at hand. Some instruments or practices of divination include Tarot card reading, Tarot-card reading, Runic magic, rune casting, Tasseography, tea-leaf reading, automatic writing, water scrying, and psychedelics like psilocybin mushrooms and DMT. If a distinction is made between divination and fortune-telling, divination has a more formal or ritualistic element and often contains a more social character, usually in a religion, religious context, as se ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Ocean; to the north by the neighbouring countries of Namibia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe; to the east and northeast by Mozambique and Eswatini; and it encloses Lesotho. Covering an area of , the country has Demographics of South Africa, a population of over 64 million people. Pretoria is the administrative capital, while Cape Town, as the seat of Parliament of South Africa, Parliament, is the legislative capital, and Bloemfontein is regarded as the judicial capital. The largest, most populous city is Johannesburg, followed by Cape Town and Durban. Cradle of Humankind, Archaeological findings suggest that various hominid species existed in South Africa about 2.5 million years ago, and modern humans inhabited the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bantu Peoples Of South Africa
Bantu speaking people are the majority ethno-racial group in South Africa. They are descendants of Southern Bantu-speaking peoples who settled in South Africa during the Bantu expansion. They are referred to in various census as ''blacks'', or ''Native Africans''. History Early history Archaeological evidence suggests that ''Homo sapiens'' inhabited the region for over 100,000 years, with sedentary agriculture occurring since at least 100 CE. Based on prehistorical archaeological evidence of pastoralism and farming in southern Africa, the settlements in sites located in the southernmost region of modern Mozambique established around are some of the oldest and most proximate pieces of archaeological evidence related to the South African Bantu-speaking peoples. Ancient settlements remains found thus far similarly based on pastoralism and farming within South Africa were dated . Around 1220, the Kingdom of Mapungubwe formed in the Shashe-Limpopo Basin, with rainmaking cruci ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
University Of Venda
The University of Venda (Univen; , ) is a South African comprehensive rural-based institution, located in Thohoyandou in Limpopo province. It was established in 1981 under the then Republic of Venda government. History The university was established in 1981 to serve the inhabitants of the Venda Bantustan; however, the student body at Univen never consisted of Venda students only as students from all over the Northern Transvaal attended the institution. After the end of Apartheid and the re-integration of the bantustans into South Africa, Univen student body were drawn from all over South Africa. With the South African government's programme of tertiary education reform in the new millennium, Univen became a "comprehensive university", offering both theoretically oriented and practically oriented courses. Campus The University of Venda has one main campus in Thohoyandou. The campus houses all four faculties of the institution, namely: *The Faculty of Science, Engineering an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scapulimancy
Scapulimancy (also spelled scapulomancy and scapulamancy, also termed omoplatoscopy or speal bone reading) is the practice of divination by use of scapulae or speal bones (shoulder blades). It is most widely practiced in China and the Sinosphere as oracle bones, but has also been independently developed in other traditions including the West. Historically, scapulimancy has taken two major forms. In the first, "apyromantic", the scapula of an animal was simply examined after its slaughter. This form was widespread in Europe, Northern Africa and the Near East. However, the second form, " pyromantic" scapulimancy, involving the heating or burning of the bone and interpretation of the results, was practiced in East Asia and North America. Americas The belief amongst the Mistassini Cree and Naskapi Innu peoples was that all animal remains were to be treated in accordance with taboos. This can blur the distinction between ritually or religiously significant remains and secular uses o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Traditional African Religions
The beliefs and practices of Demographics of Africa, African people are highly diverse, and include various ethnic religions.Encyclopedia of African Religion (Sage, 2009) Molefi Kete Asante Generally, these traditions are oral tradition, oral rather than Religious text, scriptural and are passed down from one generation to another through narratives, Music of Africa, songs, and : Festivals in Africa by country , festivals. They include beliefs in Spirit (animating force), spirits and higher and lower gods, sometimes including a King of the gods, supreme being, as well as the veneration of the dead, use of Magic (supernatural), magic, and traditional African medicine. Most religions can be described as Animism, animistic with various polytheistic and pantheistic aspects. The role of humanity is generally seen as one of harmonizing nature with the supernatural. Spread Adherents of traditional religions in Africa are distributed among 43 countries and are estimated to number over 10 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
