Ancestral beliefs in modern cultural and religious practices – The case of the Bapedi tribe

Abstract

There is no consensus among scholars of myth as to how the central concept of their field should be defined. What is a ‘myth’ and how does it differ from a ‘belief’? Moreover, scholars have argued for a homological relationship between myth and ritual. Semantically, the word ‘myth’ has a connotation of disbelief in ‘superstition’, and the word ‘belief’ should be substituted when talking about religious practices. Likewise, the word ‘ritual’ may be substituted with ‘ceremonial’, which has connotations that are more positive. Earlier publications that associate ancestral veneration with the words ‘myth’ or ‘superstition’ display a judgemental view of the beliefs of other cultures. In this article, the author attempts, via recourse to the use of the word ‘myth’, to describe and interpret traditional and cultural belief systems among the Bapedi people of Limpopo Province in South Africa. It is argued that myth should not be reduced to ritual nor ritual to myth. Belief and ritual, in Bapedi religion and belief systems, complete and complement each other, thus allowing the harmonious unison of meta and paralinguistic elements in religiocultural discourse. The focus of this study is to explore and document these links within the context of the Bapedi culture.

Cross-Religious Rituals in the Moluccas, Indonesia

“…Cross-religious rituals strengthen the bonds of kinship Slocombe & Kilmister, 2021;Toth, 2016;Wood, 2014) and builds peace (Wahid, 2022) as a kinship value to strengthen cross-religious relations. Throughout its development, the meaning and practice (Lebaka, 2019) of kinship has deepened. Cross-religious rituals of theological pluralism were performed at Immanuel Church on December 2, 2018 with the involvement of religious symbols.…”