Oral tradition and diverse literary sources in Sesotho indicate that African peoples have for
centuries been performing rituals for different purposes at the sacred sites, such as caves within
their communities as well as their families. Ritual performance has served the Basotho well as a
means of celebrating their religious beliefs and communication with God through ancestors
(Machobane and Manyeli, 2001: 4). This study, therefore, takes its cue from this common
African ritual tradition and aims to examine different rituals performed at the two sacred sites in
the Eastern Free State, namely, Badimong near Rosendal and Motouleng near Clarens. These
two caves were selected because of their prominence within the Basotho cultural tradition and
history. The study mainly highlights the classification of rituals and the use of local language as
a mode of typification of different ritual performances. The Sesotho names given to rituals and
their meaning have been communicated in Sesotho and in English. Variations in the structure of
rituals have been examined and highlighted including how and where as well as when the given
rituals are performed. The significance of each ritual performance is also dealt with in the study.
Interpretation of the Sesotho language used in ritual performance is important as interviews were
conducted in Sesotho and later translated into English while still serving the purpose of the
survey in classifying the major kinds and Sesotho names given to ritual performances at the two
sacred sites. In this way, the study retains its aim to categorize and classify types of rituals
performed at the two sacred sites specified while examining the role of language in ritual
performance together with the structure and significance of rituals.
The major research questions were: What is the extent and nature of rituals performed at sacred
sites in the Eastern Free State? How can the rituals at the sacred sites be classified so that the
local user communityâs conceptualization is fully acknowledged? The major research questions
directly relate to a survey and clarification of rituals performed at the sacred sites mentioned.
Notion was taken that the classification of rituals cannot be done without an exploration of the
different rituals in terms of their space, time, actors, audience, structure and materials. All in all,
the research design is basically an explorative survey of rituals performed at the two sacred sites
mentioned in the Eastern Free State. This study, therefore, employed a qualitative-explorative approach. An increased popularity of the two caves also provided an ideal opportunity to
explore a wide range of rituals within centralized geographical localities.
The research findings indicates that ritual activities at the sacred sites need to be taken seriously
due to their association with ancestral and religious Basotho beliefs which have been an integral
and is still said to be an important part in the cultural, spiritual and religious beliefs of most local
user communities of the sacred sites under study. The recommendations made are that more
literary sources should be made available in which ritual activities at sacred sites are not merely
elaborated upon as superstitious or traditional African dilemma but as healthy, informative,
religious and valuable practice that should be acknowledged and contextualized with the respect
that it deserves. It is also recommended that the two major sacred sites mentioned should be
preserved and maintained as sources of African Traditional Indigenous Knowledge in the Eastern
Free State.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:ufs/oai:etd.uovs.ac.za:etd-05172013-094815 |
| Date | 17 May 2013 |
| Creators | Mensele, M S |
| Contributors | Prof PJ Nel, Dr EN Malete |
| Publisher | University of the Free State |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | en-uk |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.uovs.ac.za//theses/available/etd-05172013-094815/restricted/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University Free State or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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