You can't tell the power of a dance if you have not seen this. Dancing to them is a very important and a powerful ritual thet they value so much. If you haven't experienced and felt a dance, then find them.
We are talking of the San and their healing dance. Join me and learn what you didn't know about the San today.
The San and their Mysterious Healing Dance.
The San is a community in Botswana southern Africa.
They are about 105,000 in population.
They are one of the oldest tribe in the world tracing their origins from the the linage of humankind.
They are Bushmen speaking in click sounds and depend on hunting and gathering as a way of survival.
The practise artwork using pigments from minerals, Ochre,blood and eggs to draw animals and some aspects of their cultures
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| The San artwork |
The Healing Dance
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| The healing dance |
This dance is a ritual that brings one into a state of consciousness.
It is linked to praying to the spirit of the ancestors and gods
It is intimated by a shaman(healer) and is believed to hold immense and magical powers
How is it conducted
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| A big fire is lit in the village |
A big fire is lit in the village and women and children sit around singing and clapping to the rhythm of the music.
Men dance infront of the fire rhythmically.
Some of the dancers enters in a trance where they come into contact with the spiritual powers.
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| Women and children sit and clap while men dance to the rhythm |
The shaman now consult with the ancestors and the sick is brought into his sight.
They experience a healing energy which they chanel to the sick through touching the parts which are affected.
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| The shaman touching the affected parts of the sick to remove the disease |
The shaman remove the disease and release negative spirits into the night.
How does the dance ends.
The dance is done during the night and can take the whole night.
It ends with the healers being on an altered state often with a lot of pain and screeming.
As the spirit leave their bodies, the healers cast themselves into the fire in a mission to save his people.
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| The shaman casting himself in the fire to save his people. |
The people later award him/her by rubbing them with sweat.
Their is a flicking of flywhisk to award off arrows of illiness.
The San value dance and every ritual that is suppose to be done is marked by a dance.
Another fascinating and interesting dance among the San is The Dance of the Elland or The Purification Dance.
It is an initiation ceremony done by the women.
The San believe that the girl's first menstruation gives evil influence so the girls need to be excluded and made to engage in the dance of Purification.
Despite the civilization the took place during the colonization living many people abandoning their culture, the San is a good example of those communities that value their culture and they still practise it upto today.
Enjoy, share and leave a comment on the post. Follow for more goodies and interesting facts about African cultures.
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