The San people (or Saan), also known as Bushmen or Basarwa, are members of various Khoisan indigenous
hunter-gatherer people of Southern Africa, whose territories span Botswana, Namibia, Angola, Zambia,
Zimbabwe, Lesotho and South Africa. The ancestors of the hunter-gatherer San people are considered to
have been the first inhabitants of what is now Botswana and South Africa.
The historical presence
of the San in Botswana is particularly evident in northern Botswana's Tsodilo Hills region. In this area,
stone tools and rock art paintings date back thousands of years. The San were traditionally semi-nomadic,
moving seasonally within certain defined areas based on the availability of resources such as water, game
animals, and edible plants. As of 2010, the San population in Botswana numbers about 50,000 to 60,000.
The San kinship system reflects their interdependence as traditionally small mobile foraging
bands. San kinship is comparable to Eskimo kinship, with the same set of terms as in European
cultures, but also uses a name rule and an age rule.
The age rule resolves any confusion arising from kinship terms, as the older of two people always
decides what to call the younger. Relatively few names circulate (approximately 35 names per sex),
and each child is named after a grandparent or another relative.
Children have no social duties besides playing, and leisure is very important to San of all ages.
Large amounts of time are spent in conversation, joking, music, and sacred dances. Women have a high
status in San society, are greatly respected, and may be leaders of their own family groups.
They make important family and group decisions and claim ownership of water holes and foraging areas.
Women are mainly involved in the gathering of food, but may also take part in hunting.
Kalahari Bushmen traditionally will wear very little clothing, although both men and women will wear
some animal hide around the waist and some fur robes over the back. However many have now become me more
western in their dress as increasing numbers become employed in the tourist industry which is developing
in Botswana.
Villages range in sturdiness from nightly rain shelters in the warm spring (when people move constantly in
search of budding greens), to formalized rings, wherein people congregate in the dry season around permanent
waterholes.
Early spring is the hardest season: a hot dry period following the cool, dry winter. Most plants
still are dead or dormant, and supplies of autumn nuts are exhausted. Meat is particularly important in the dry
months when wildlife cannot range far from the receding waters.
Women gather fruit, berries, tubers, bush onions, and other plant materials for the band's consumption. Ostrich
eggs are gathered, and the empty shells are used as water containers. Insects provide perhaps 10% of animal proteins
consumed, most often during the dry season. Depending on location, the San consume 18 to 104 species, including
grasshoppers, beetles, caterpillars, moths, butterflies, and termites.
MYTHICAL FIGURES
Cagn (also known Kaang or /Kaggen) is the supreme god of the San. He is the first being and the creator of the world. Cagn is said to have created the moon which holds special significance to the San people; the phase of the moon dictated when rainmaking rituals were to be performed.
Heitsi-Eibib is usually as a culture hero. He is sometimes called a trickster. In other contexts,
he appears as a patron of hunters and in some stories he even had a part in creating the world,
impressing specific characteristics into different species. For example, he cursed the lion to
walk on ground instead of nesting on a tree.
The multiple roles of Heitsi-eibib have been called a reflection of the fluidity of San religious
resources and rituals, which are usually ambiguous and lack in standardization. Heitsi-eibib was
also a life-death-rebirth figure, dying and resurrecting himself on numerous occasion. Resulting
from this, his funeral cairns can be found in many locations in southern Africa, and it is customary
to throw a stone onto them for good luck. In different accounts, Heitsi-eibib is born from either a
girl or more often a cow, who got pregnant by eating a magical grass. Heitsi-eibib was a legendary
hunter, sorcerer and warrior.
Tsui'goab is a sky deity associated with the phenomena of thunder and lightning. His name translates to "bloodied knee", and he is said to dwell in a red heaven located somewhere in the east, as opposed to Gaunab's black heaven.
Gaunab is a god of sickness and death who is locked in constant battle with Tsui'goab.
Utixo or "Tiqua" is the name used by missionaries as a translation for the Abrahamic God
The Ga-Gorib is a beast who lived on the edge of a pit. It would trick people into throwing stones at it, but the stones would always bounce back from the creature's hide, and the thrower would fall into the pit.
!Xu is considered a benevolent and omnipotent supreme being. He is also the sky god to whom the souls of the dead go. He is said to "Summon the magicians to their profession, and gives them supernatural powers." The San add that he provides the rain and is invoked in illness, before hunting and before travelling.
TRANCE
To enter the spirit world, trance has to be initiated by a shaman through the hunting of a tutelary spirit or power animal. The eland often serves as power animal. The fat of the eland is used symbolically in many rituals including initiations and rites of passage. Other animals such as giraffe, kudu and hartebeest can also serve this function.
One of the most important rituals in the San religion is the great dance, or the trance dance. This dance typically takes a circular form, with women clapping and singing and men dancing rhythmically. Although there is no evidence that the Kalahari San use hallucinogens regularly, student shaman may use hallucinogens to go into trance for the first time.