Spirit possession is an unusual or an altered state of consciousness and associated behaviors which are purportedly caused by the control of a human body and its functions by spirits, ghosts, demons, angels, or gods. The concept of spirit possession exists in many cultures and religions, including Buddhism, Christianity, Haitian Vodou, Dominican 21 Divisions, Hinduism, Islam, Wicca, and Southeast Asian, African, and Native American traditions. Depending on the cultural context in which it is found, possession may be thought of as voluntary or involuntary and may be considered to have beneficial or detrimental effects on the host. The experience of spirit possession sometimes serves as evidence in support of belief in the existence of spirits, deities or demons. In a 1969 study funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, spirit-possession beliefs were found to exist in 74% of a sample of 488 societies in all parts of the world, with the highest numbers of believing societies in Pacific cultures and the lowest incidence among Native Americans of both North and South America. As Pentecostal and Charismatic Christian churches move into both African and Oceanic areas, a merger of belief can take place, with demons becoming representative of the "old" indigenous religions, which Christian ministers attempt to exorcise.
Traditional healers of Southern Africa are practitioners of traditional African medicine in Southern Africa. They fulfil different social and political roles in the community like divination, healing physical, emotional, and spiritual illnesses, directing birth or death rituals, finding lost cattle, protecting warriors, counteracting witchcraft and narrating the history, cosmology, and concepts of their tradition.
The Sotho, also known as the Basotho, are a Sotho-Tswana ethnic group native to Southern Africa. They primarily inhabit the regions of Lesotho and South Africa.
Rosendal is a small farming town and arts colony 45 km north of Ficksburg in the Free State province of South Africa which was founded in 1908. It has become a popular tourist destination, known for spectacular scenery, including the surrounding Witteberg mountains, and is home to a community of artists and small business owners. The town has a number of attractive buildings and restored early-20th-century homes. The quality of architectural design for newly built homes is notable, adding to the town's attractive character. This includes a number of "Tiny Homes" - less than 100 square meters - and which has earned Rosendal a reputation for becoming South Africa's tiny home capital. There are several art galleries, cafes and good restaurants as well as a heritage district of restored buildings in the former downtown. Until recently live theatre was hosted here by well known Afrikaans language actor, Chris Van Niekerk.
Cordyline fruticosa is an evergreen flowering plant in the family Asparagaceae. The plant is of great cultural importance to the traditional inhabitants of the Pacific Islands and Island Southeast Asia. It is also cultivated for food, traditional medicine, and as an ornamental for its variously colored leaves. It is identified by a wide variety of common names, including ti plant, palm lily, cabbage palm.
The beliefs and practices of African people are highly diverse, and include various ethnic religions. Generally, these traditions are oral rather than scriptural and are passed down from one generation to another through folk tales, songs, and festivals, and include beliefs in spirits and higher and lower gods, sometimes including a supreme being, as well as the veneration of the dead, and use of magic and traditional African medicine. Most religions can be described as animistic with various polytheistic and pantheistic aspects. The role of humanity is generally seen as one of harmonizing nature with the supernatural. Unlike Abrahamic religions, African traditional religions are not idealisations, and they seek to come to terms with reality as it is. They generally seek to explain the reality of personal experience by spiritual forces which underpin orderly group life, contrasted by those that threaten it.
The Sandawe are an indigenous ethnic group of Southeast Africa, based in the Chemba District kwamtoro ward of Dodoma Region in central Tanzania. In 2000, the Sandawe population was estimated to be 40,000.
Espiritismo is a term used in Latin America and the Caribbean to refer to the popular belief that evolved and less evolved spirits can affect health, luck and other aspects of human life.
A nganga is a spiritual healer, diviner, and ritual specialist in traditional Kongo religion. These experts also exist across the African diaspora in countries where Kongo and Mbundu people were transported during the Atlantic slave trade, such as Brazil, the southern United States, Haiti and Cuba.
Christianity is the dominant religion in Lesotho, with Protestantism and Catholicism being its main denominations.
Around the World in 80 Faiths is a British television series which was first broadcast by the BBC on 2 January 2009. The series was presented by Anglican vicar Pete Owen-Jones, who was researching the various faiths from around the world.
The LiphofungHistorical Site includes a cave which occupies an important place in Lesotho history. It is the smallest of the Lesotho Highlands Development Authority (LHDA) reserves, at about 4.5 ha, but has been intensively developed. The cave is a large overhang in the Clarens sandstone, which is a typical feature of the Lesotho lowlands region. Originally used by the San people and other Neolithic people, the walls contain important rock art and a rich archaeological deposit of Stone Age implements lies beneath the floor. Later, King Moshoeshoe the Great used the cave as a stopover when visiting that part of the kingdom.
Modderpoort, also known as Lekhalong la Bo Tau or ‘The Pass of the Lions’, is the site in the eastern Free State, South Africa, where the Anglican Missionary Brotherhood, the Brotherhood of St Augustine of Hippo, was established by Bishop Edward Twells in the late 1860s. It is also associated with the BaSotho prophet ‘Mantsopa, while the ‘sacred landscape’ in the vicinity includes San rock painting sites.
The Ryukyuan religion (琉球信仰), Ryūkyū Shintō (琉球神道), Nirai Kanai Shinkō (ニライカナイ信仰), or Utaki Shinkō (御嶽信仰) is the indigenous belief system of the Ryukyu Islands.
Lebollo la basadi also known as female initiation among the Basotho is a rite of passage ritual which marks the transition of girls into womanhood. This activity is still practiced in the Free State, Mpumalanga, Eastern Cape and KwaZulu Natal provinces of South Africa. In Sesotho, lebollo means initiation. The Basotho rite of passage ritual, unlike other practices in Africa, does not involve procedures which remove parts of the female genital organ. However, the inner folds of the labia are enlarged and elongated by stretching for a more pleasurable sexual experience. In areas where initiation is still valued, uninitiated girls are ridiculed by society.
Shamanism is a religious practice present in various cultures and religions around the world. Shamanism takes on many different forms, which vary greatly by region and culture and are shaped by the distinct histories of its practitioners.
Indigenous religion in Zimbabwe is explained in terms of the Zimbabwe ethnic groups, beliefs, norms and values, rites and rituals, ceremonies and celebrations. Indigenous religion is more carried out by living it than with its theory. Religion among the Africans is very important, it plays a vital role for the individuals, the family and the community as a whole. Bourdlillon asserts that indigenous religion is one, though there can be various manifestation just like Christianity which is one but has various denominations. Thomas Gale defined the word indigenous as to anything that is native to a particular geographical culture. Mbiti says in Zimbabwe Indigenous religion is in two classes, the Ndebele and Shona. However, Zimbabwe has a lot of minority tribes including the Tonga, Venda, Kalanga and Sothu.
'Mantsopa Anna Makhetha (1793–1908), often referred to as 'Mantsopa, was a Basotho prophetess, rainmaker, and storyteller. She advised King Moshoeshoe I and predicted the outcomes of several battles, including the Battle of Viervoet in 1851 and the Battle of Berea in 1852. She was exiled to Modderpoort in the late 1860s, where she converted to Christianity and was baptised in 1870. She fused Christianity with her own traditional Basotho customs.
Ukuthwasa is a Southern African culture-bound syndrome associated with the calling and the initiation process to become a sangoma, a type of traditional healer. In the cultural context of traditional healers in Southern Africa, the journey of ukuthwasa involves a spiritual process marked by rituals, teachings, and preparations. It begins with a calling, idlozi, from ancestors, often received through dreams or altered states of consciousness. Initiates, known as ithwasaneor ithwasa, undergo formal training under a mentor, gobela, which can last months to years. Ukuthwasa process entails physical, psychological, and spiritual manifestations, which are believed to cleanse and prepare the initiate. The term ukuthwasa, meaning "come out" or "be reborn," signifies the transformative nature of the experience. Both men and women can become traditional healers through this calling.
The Vimbuza dance is a traditional dance originating from the Tumbuka people of Malawi, Tanzania and Zambia. It is a ritualistic dance performed to communicate with the spirits of the dead and to seek their guidance and protection.
