San religion

The religion of the San people, or Bushmen, of southern Africa consists of a spirit world and our material world. To enter the spirit world, trancing has to be initiated by a shaman through the hunting of power animals.

The trance dance & eland potency

Rock art shares the same San religion, consisting of San trance or San power. If San religious beliefs are understood then the rock art can be explained. The San believed in a tiered cosmos with realms above and below the material world. Once an eland had been killed, a link between the realms was created. The eland (often depicted with shamans) was a main symbol of trance due to its fat, the prime container and essence of trance. Rites of passage are initiated with eland fat. These include: marriage, boys and girls initiation (with the boys first successful eland hunt), and trancing. Once an eland was killed, a shaman would ‘dance eland potency’ and enter the spirit world, often depicted in rock art. The shaman would go through a trance, seemingly gaining animal senses, and enter the spirit world. Once in the spirit world, they could make contact with God and important spirits. The shaman would be given supernatural power in these meetings. There is a key aspect of the San belief that needs consideration: everything that is taken from nature must meet the needs and must not be more than what is required. Anything that is taken has to have a purpose and must meet the needs of the community.

The hunter's dance in Zimbabwe

In Zimbabwe, San religious concepts are similar to those of South Africa, however the eland is replaced by the elephant and other animals. The elephant is depicted as being hunted, with people surrounding it and firing arrows at it. The elephant has been pierced by many arrows and drips blood. In many cases the arrows have large triangular crossed and barbed heads. However it would be impossible to kill the elephant with blunt arrows tips (as is frequently painted) because the elephant's thick hide could not be penetrated with blunt arrows. These hunts are a metaphor for trance dance. In San religion the elephant blood is an icon of elephant potency and also trancer potency. In both potency icons, the trance of the hunter or death of the elephant is induced. In Zimbabwe the elephant can also be interchanged with the buffalo or lions and buffalos bleeding profusely may be symbolic of shedding rain in San religion as well as blood and potency. Moreover these are not the only power animals depicted, rhebok and hartebeest are also in rock art (in places such as Cederberg and Warm Bokkeveld).

Neuropsychological findings in trance dance

The San religious art of Zimbabwe and South Africa can be linked strongly to neuropsychological findings in trance. Psychologists have investigated hallucinations and states of altered consciousness in neuropsychology. Most of this research was carried out independently of shamanism and rock art. It derived largely from laboratory experiments using hallucinogenic drugs such as LSD. They also found that entoptic phenomena can occur through rhythmic dancing, music, sensory deprivation, hyperventilation, prolonged and intense concentration and migraines. When San shamans ‘saw’ visions of animals during trance they would not be able to explain them in a scientific manner, therefore they explained them in theological terms.

The First phase in psychological trance

The psychological approach explains rock art through three trance phases. In the first phase of trance an altered state of consciousness would come about. People would experience geometric shapes commonly known as entoptic phenomena. These would include zigzags, chevrons, dots flecks, grids, vortexes and U-shapes.These shapes can be found especially in rock engravings (not so much in paintings) of Southern Africa.

The second phase in psychological trance

During the second phase of trance people try to make sense of the entoptic phenomena. They would elaborate the shape they had ‘seen’ until they had created something that looked familiar to them. Shamans experiencing the second phase of trance would incorporate the natural world into their visual entoptic phenomena. These visions are sometimes depicted in U-shaped entoptics. Again some artists depicted the U-shaped entoptic as honeycombs, an important symbol of potency in San religion. Some paintings of bees have their wings minutely painted. All these curious paintings are Shamans trying to make sense of the second trance phase.

The third phase in psychological trance

In the third phase a radical transformation occurs in mental imagery. The most noticeable change is that the Shaman becomes part of the experience. Subjects under laboratory conditions have found that they experience sliding down a rotating tunnel, entering caves or holes in the ground. People in the third phase begin to lose their grip on reality and hallucinate monsters and animals of strong emotional content. In this phase therianthropes in rock painting can be explained as San shamans sensory awareness is heightened. They feel with these extra senses like they have turned into half animal. That is why therianthropes are depicted in rock art frequently.

Bibliography

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*Lewis-Williams, J.D. 1981. Believing and Seeing: Symbolic Meanings in Southern San Rock Paintings. London: Academic Press.
*Lewis-Williams, J.D. (Ed.) 2000. Stories that Float from Afar: Ancestral Folklore of the San of Southern Africa. Cape Town: David Philip.
*Lewis-Williams, J.D. and Dowson, T.A. 1988. The signs of all times: entropic phenomena in Upper Palaeolithic art. Current Anthropology, 29(2): 201-245.
*Lewis-Williams, D.J. and Dowson, T.A., 1999. Images of power: understanding San rock art (Second Edition). Southern Book Publishers, Johannesburg.
*Lewis-Williams, D.J. and Pearce, D.G. 2004. San Spirituality: Roots, Expressions and Social Consequences. Double Storey, Cape Town.
*Marshall, L. 1999. Nyae Nyae !Kung. Cambridge (Massachusetts): Peabody Museum Monographs (Number 8), Harvard University.
*cite audio |people=Mohamed, Pops |title=Bushmen of the Kalahari |medium=CD |year2=2000
*Vinnicombe, P. 1976. People of the Eland: rock paintings of the Drakensburg Bushmen as a reflection of their life and thought. Pietermaritzburg: University of Natal Press.

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