The Beliefs of the Basotho People

African Traditional Religion

This is a brief overview of the beliefs of the Basotho of Lesotho and South Africa. It is not an exhaustive look, to be sure, but a simple description of some of the prevailing beliefs among them.

In order to better understand these beliefs, it is easier to separate them into three sections, and look at them one at a time. For our purposes here, we can entitle the three sections as African Traditional Religion (ATR), Traditional Christianity, and True Christianity.

What is ATR?

African Traditional Religion is not ancestor worship. They don’t worship ancestors, they worship God. African Traditional Religion is not the same thing as the Oriental concept of Ancestor Veneration. Simply put, African Traditional Religion is using the ancestors as a spirit medium to get what you need from God.

The African Traditional Religion is no so much a religion as it is a Belief System. It is the prevailing belief system amongst most of Sub-Sahara Africans. Behind African Traditional Religion is the inter-connectedness of all things. There is the mixing of persons who came before with the people alive today. There is a connection to the land, and a keen understanding of a person’s place in the larger scope of things.

The structure of African Traditional Religions is based on the idea that God is other. This means that God made the universe, the heavens, the world, and everything in it. However, God is distinctly uninterested in the goings on of every day life. That is to say, God made me, but He couldn’t care less what happens to me in my life.

Just below God is the created world of angelic beings; some good, “angels”, and some bad, “demons”. Unlike God, they have the distinction of being somewhat interested in our lives, as long as we are a means to their end.

Below these mighty and majestic angelic beings is the realm of Heroes. Heroes are men of renown, those who, during their life time, were able to distinguish themselves above the common lot. Perhaps they were kings, or warriors, or athletes, poets, or philosophers. They are not angelic, but they represent the best of men, achieving and fulfilling all potential of mankind. These Heroes are rather interested in our lives, more so than the angels. After all, they too used to be a man.

Below the Heroes are the Spirits, which find themselves neatly divided into two groups. The first group is the spirits of those who are waiting for an infant to be born so that they can enter the physical realm. They are called the “Spirit of the unborn living”. The second group is the spirits of those who have lived a life time on this earth, and upon the death of their physical body, they now inhabit the spiritual realm. They are known as the “Living Dead”, or the more palatable term, “ancestors”.

The Question of Time

Where we come from, time is linear. We have a neatly ordered system of time; Past, Present, and Future. We live here and now. What has come before us is Past on our time line. The things which are to come are found on the Future of our time line.

But what if time is not linear? The ATR tells us that that which is Past is alive and present today. Events of the Past still have a living influence on our daily lives. People who lived long before us are still alive and impact the events of today. This belief is at the core of ATR.

If someone we know dies, we bury that person’s body, but we insist that the person’s spirit, his eternal soul, has gone on to a better place. The repentant thief on the cross was assured by Jesus that, “This day you will be with me in paradise.”

Among the Basotho, if a person dies, they too will bury the body. But the spirit of that person, his eternal soul, remains active in their daily lives. If a person’s father dies, he can still get assistance and advice from his father’s spirit, which lives and is active in the air around him.

Very few have the ability to communicate with the living spirits of those who have come before. Those who do have that ability are called Sangoma. A Sangoma is a “medium”. He or she is the middle-man. He is the living person that we can see, and touch, and go to talk with. Yet the Sangoma can do more than this. He can also talk to the spirits around him. Often, a Spirit will visit him in a dream, or else in a state of trance. This kind of “medium”, the Sangoma, is precisely what God warns us against in the eighteenth chapter of Deuteronomy.

How It Actually Plays Out

Suppose I am a Basotho and I have a specific need, say, to find a good job. The first thing I can do is go find a Sangoma who will communicate with my deceased father, who was quite keen in his ability to always find good work. When I arrive at the home of the Sangoma, I will tell him my need and who he can communicate with to help me find work. When I leave, the Sangoma will do what is necessary to open dialogue with the spirit world. That night, or perhaps later, the spirit of my father will come to him and give him advice. He will also tell the Sangoma what is required of me upon receiving that advice.

Later, when the Sangoma and I meet again, he will tell me exactly what to do. The first thing I must do is satisfy the need of the spirit of my father. Perhaps I need to place a small beer sacrifice on his grave. Perhaps a sacrifice of meal or something more costly is in order. When I have done this, I return to the Sangoma and he will then create a charm, or medicine of some sort that will serve as the host of the spirit of my father, and I will take this with me.

When I arrive at the job interview, the spirit of my father will release from the charm and influence the manager in a positive way. The end result is that I will get the job.

Traditional Christianity

The first known Christian churches on the African continent were in Alexandria on the north coast, and in Ethiopia which was most likely started under the influence of the Ethiopian Eunuch who was converted by Phillip. Through the centuries, Christianity made its way first West, and then South, mostly battling Islam along the way.

Where Did It Come From?

Traditional Christianity as we see it today, had it’s beginnings with the earliest explorers. At one point in history, the roles of missionary, explorer, and merchant began to bleed into each other. Early explorers, such as David Livingston, were under tremendous pressure to find new trade routes. In exchange, his supporters were willing to give religious latitude.

In the mid-1800’s, French Catholics found an opening among the Basotho through King Moshoeshoe. They were able to inscribe the Sesotho language into written form. Traditional Catholicism has had a strong influence since then throughout the country of Lesotho, but not in South Africa, which was dominated by the Dutch Reform Church, which has traditionally been at odds with the Catholic Church.

Throughout the centuries, the Basotho have been converted, but not discipled. This has resulted in a strange mix of African Traditional Religion and Christianity found in the Zionists, Shembites, Zed C.C., and Apostolics. This mixture is common among many of the Sub-Saharan Africans and is a constant source of consternation for missionaries and pastors.

This mixture, or syncretism, is worked out in a pragmatic way. Most of the Basotho live from day to day, with a propensity towards pragmatism. That is to say, they are not so much concerned with the ascetic qualities of wonderment, they simply want to know, “Does it work?”

For many Basotho, Jesus is not exclusive, rather, He is inclusive. He is not “The way, The truth, and The life”, as we see in John 14. Instead, He is seen as “one of many ways, one of many truths, and one of many lives.” Among the ancestors, He is seen as the greatest of them, but certainly not the only ancestor. So it follows that, if you have a really big problem, go to Jesus. If you have common problems, go to common ancestors.

True Christianity

What is beginning to emerge is True Christianity. For our purposes here, let’s define True Christianity as:

A meaningful relationship with God the Father, which a repentant person enters into by grace through faith in Christ Jesus, and is indwelled by the Holy Spirit of God.

So “true Christianity” is not simply the outward appearance of having your name on some church roll, or getting water splashed on you when you were a baby. It is a vital and living relationship with God.

Among the Basotho, True Christianity is a powerful thing. For one thing, they do not have to live in the darkness and fear of witchcraft anymore. T he African Traditional system no longer holds them in chains of “do’s and don’t” because they have a true advocate in Christ Jesus, who is the true intercessor between man and God. Furthermore, they have secured eternal life, and also a fullness and richness in everyday living.

Yet the greatest of all things, is that they do not have to cease to be Basotho. They have a living relationship with a living God who made them as beautiful as they are, with the richness of their culture and heritage, and the intricate fullness of their language.