Thursday, June 11, 2009

In South Africa “ancestor” did not indicate a “kind”

of “supreme being” (as in the strongest god of a pantheon, or a “remote God”); nor a projection of a principle (light, air, fire), a first ancestor, or any supreme personhood at all to great heights or potency as a controlling figure, power, or central symbol.  There is a little evidence counter to my hypothesis here, notably Lichtenstein’s early (Foundations, 1807) understanding of modimo as a remote and distant deity; and Chidester, Savage Systems, 182.  But the term did not mean the creator of the elements, earth and the heavens.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

BASOTHO AND TSWANA BELIEVE IN MODIMO (WHAT IS HIGH MODIMO?). HIGH MODIMO IS WESTERN CONCEPT. MODIMI/MWALI IS GOD PERIOD. WE BELIEVE THAT GOD IS ABOVE EVERYTHING AND RESPONSIBLE FOR ALL. AS MISSINARIES ASSUMED WE WORSHIP ANCESTORS, THEY WERE SIMPLY BIASED OR JUST IGNORANT. WE PRAY TO BADIMO TO CARRY THE MESSAGE TO MODIMO. SAME WAY AS ROMAN CATHOLICS WOULD PRAY TO MARRY OR JESUS TO CARRY THEY PRAYERS TO GOD. WE DO NOT WORSHIP ANIMALS IETHER. ANIMAL TOTEMS ARE LIKE FAMILY CREST OR FLAG. WE RENEVETE THE GOOD QUALITIES OF ANIMALS AS YOU KNOW THE LOOWE MYTH THAT WE CAME OUT WITH OUR LIVE STOCK AND FOUND WILD ANIMALS ALREADY EXISTING.