UNkulunkulu, the Ancestors, and the Shape of Devotion

Zulu traditional religion centres not on the worship of a remote creator but on living relationship with the ancestral dead. Above stands uNkulunkulu (also uMvelinqangi), the creator and first being, understood as having set the fundamental order of life and then withdrawn from its daily running; because he is remote, everyday devotion is directed to the amadlozi, the family dead who remain members of the lineage and mediate between the living and the source of life.

The dead make themselves felt through dreams and through illness understood as a call, and relations with them are maintained through the honouring of the homestead and the ritual slaughter and sharing of cattle. Two recognised specialists serve the community: the isangoma, the diviner called by the ancestors to speak for them, and the inyanga, the herbalist and healer. This is a living tradition, practised today, and it is described here in its public shape.