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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | Sotho fertility symbolism |
Author: | Murray, Colin |
Year: | 1980 |
Periodical: | African Studies |
Volume: | 39 |
Issue: | 1 |
Pages: | 65-76 |
Language: | English |
Geographic terms: | South Africa Lesotho |
Subjects: | rainmaking Sotho Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups) Women's Issues |
External link: | https://doi.org/10.1080/00020188008707550 |
Abstract: | The Sotho-Tswana peoples reveal in their symbols and in their ritual practices a predominant concern with the vagaries of the weather and the vicissitudes of the seasonal cycle. This concern is reflected in beliefs about the mystical capacity of traditional rulers to invoke the rain. All the Sotho-Tswana believe in the rain-making powers of their chiefs, although many of the ritual techniques traditionally employed are either obsolete or obsolescent. In this capacity the chief personifies an idea implicit in Sotho-Tswana cosmology - that the natural order and the human social order are linked. The taboos in Sesotho social life are explained by Basotho in terms of their relation to the agricultural cycle. The author explores a number of structural contexts which manifest the symbolic elaboration of this theme. Initially, he explores the manner in which Basotho attempt (or attempted) to manipulate the forces which govern its 'objective' counterpart, the connection between rainfall and the fertility of the land. Ref., notes. |