(Oxford, 1968), The Ritual Process (Chicago, 1969), and
Revelation and Divination in Ndembu Ritual (Ithaca, N.Y.,
1975); together they constitute a profound study of Ndembu
ritual and symbolism.Willoughby, William C. The Soul of the Bantu. New York, 1928.
Based on the experience in Botswana of a missionary who be-
lieved that “ritual is a variety of the vernacular.”
Wilson, Monica. Reaction to Conquest. London, 1936. Includes
eyewitness accounts of animal offerings and prayers to the
shades.
Wilson, Monica. “Witch Beliefs and Social Structure.” American
Journal of Sociology 56 (January 1951): 307–313.
Wilson, Monica. Rituals of Kinship among the Nyakyusa. London,
- This work and its companion volume, Communal Rit-
uals of the Nyakyusa (London, 1957), describe the whole
cycle celebrated; they quote the texts and describe the situa-
tions on which interpretation of symbols is based.
Wilson, Monica. “Co-operation and Conflict.” In The Oxford
History of South Africa, edited by Monica Wilson and Leon-
ard Thompson, vol. 1. Oxford, 1969. Shows that the Xhosa
cattle killing of 1856 was one of a series led by prophets who
urged purification from witchcraft and sacrifice to the
shades.
Wilson, Monica. Religion and the Transformation of Society. Cam-
bridge, 1971. Discusses the change in traditional religion as
the scale of societies in Africa increases.
Wilson, Monica. “Mhlakaza.” In Les Africains, edited by Charles-
André Julien et al., vol. 5. Paris, 1977. The Xhosa cattle kill-
ing has been seen by various writers as a plot of the chiefs to
drive the Xhosa to war, as a plot of the whites to destroy the
Xhosa, and as a resistance movement. Little attention has
been paid to its fundamental religious aspect, which is dis-
cussed here. (The text is, alas, marred by many mistakes in
the French printing of names.)
MONICA WILSON (1987)
SOUTHERN AFRICAN RELIGIONS: SOUTHERN
BANTU RELIGIONS
Patrilineal herdsmen and farmers belonging to the large
Bantu linguistic group, which is widely spread over central
and eastern Africa, moved into southern Africa in distinct
waves. They appeared in the region as distinct cultural
groups probably between 1000 and 1600 CE. The Sotho
(Pedi, Matlala, et al.) and the related Tswana settled on the
arid inland plateau where the San were hunting and the Khoi
were raising livestock. The Nguni (Zulu, Swazi, and Xhosa)
spread out along the southeastern coast. The Lovedu and
Venda, two closely related peoples who became strongly
amalgamated with the Sotho in the twentieth century, suc-
cessively broke away from the Karanga in ancient Zimbabwe;
the last Venda migration may have crossed the Limpopo
River after 1600 CE, but their predecessors were probably
among the first inhabitants of the northeastern Transvaal.
The Tsonga, or Thonga, migrated in the early nineteenth
century into the Transvaal, where they ran into Sotho and
Venda, but their lands still lie principally in Mozambique.
In spite of these people’s cultural diversity, their ceremonies
as well as their conceptions of the world have sprung from
the same fundamental cosmology, either through derivation
from a common heritage or else from interactions.
A THERMODYNAMIC CONCEPTION OF THE INDIVIDUAL AND
OF THE UNIVERSE. The opposition between hot and cold is
fundamental to many different rites found among the south-
eastern Bantu-speaking peoples. J. D. Krige and Eileen Jen-
sen Krige have shown the importance of this opposition
among the Lovedu. In effect, heat upsets equilibrium and
causes dysphoria. To end severe drought, ward off the dan-
gers associated with premature birth, and heal sickness, a
cooling treatment is applied. This is also done after the birth
of twins, for the whole country risks becoming dry.
The Venda also use this dialectic. Similarly, the Zulu
make a sacrificer avoid warmth before undergoing an immo-
lation to the ancestors, who are associated with water and
sperm. The day before, he has to give up drinking beer, stop
making love, and keep away from fire. Communication with
the ancestors is possible only if all participants are cool—
neither angry nor spiteful. According to the Tsonga, sick per-
sons give off heat, as do menstruating or pregnant women
and excited warriors who have just killed an enemy. The cos-
mic order is threatened by the birth of twins because the
mother “has gone up to the sky” during pregnancy, a period
of dangerous overheating inside her womb. The Pedi even
recommend that pregnant women not go outside whenever
it rains. The Tswana say that the hot blood of pregnant
women counteracts rain medicine. Moreover, their rainmak-
ers and chiefs must abstain from sexual intercourse through-
out most of the rainy season.
The Tsonga liken the normally born baby to a pot that
has not cracked when baked. The mother and child are se-
cluded until the umbilical cord falls off. The father cannot
approach his wife because she is considered to be too hot.
If the baby is male, the father runs a special risk. A series of
rites gradually separates the infant from the mother’s burning
body and integrates him into the father’s sphere. The cooling
process can be clearly observed during Tsonga funerals for
infants. If death follows soon after birth, the body is put in-
side a cracked pot that is covered with a layer of ashes. If
death occurs before the Boha Puri tribal integration, which
allows the parents to resume sexual intercourse and is per-
formed when the child reaches the age of one, the body is
buried in a humid place. If the child dies after this rite, the
funeral is conducted like that of an adult, and the corpse is
buried in dry earth.
The same thermal code underlies rites of passage that,
though differing in form, are basically similar. An example
is the presentation to the moon. A cooling feminine princi-
ple, the moon is responsible for watching over the child’s
growth and is often likened to a paternal aunt. During the
first new moon visible after birth, the Pedi place the baby
on the ground for a few seconds, and water, symbolizing8662 SOUTHERN AFRICAN RELIGIONS: SOUTHERN BANTU RELIGIONS