Origin No datable founding
The traditional religion of the Zulu people of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa, a living tradition centred on the veneration of the ancestors, the amadlozi or abaphansi, who remain members of the family after death and mediate between the living and the divine. Above them stands a remote creator, uNkulunkulu, also called uMvelinqangi, the first being who broke off from the reeds of creation and who withdrew from daily affairs; the sky is associated with uMvelinqangi and with the lord of the sky. The rain and fertility goddess uNomkhubulwane is honoured by young women in the planting season. Relations with the ancestors are maintained through the diviner, the isangoma, the herbalist, the inyanga, the ritual slaughter of cattle and the sharing of meat and beer, and the homestead and its cattle enclosure as sacred ground.
Facts
Origins
Origin Period Origin PeriodThe tradition is older than the Zulu kingdom of the early 19th century 1 Place of OriginKwaZulu-Natal, in southern Africa 1 Belief
TheologyHenotheistic: a supreme being above served lesser divinities 1 Status
Status TodayLiving tradition, practised today 1 Cultural Restriction
Restricted TraditionZulu traditional religion is a living tradition with living custodians. The atlas describes its practice rather than instructing it. 2 Learn More
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(also uMvelinqangi), the creator and first being, understood as having set the fundamental order of life and then withdrawn from its daily running; because he is remote, everyday devotion is directed to the amadlozi, the family dead who remain members of the lineage and mediate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.
A Living Tradition Alongside Christianity
Zulu traditional religion is practised today across South Africa and the wider Zulu-speaking world, frequently alongside Christianity rather than in simple opposition to it. Many Zulu people hold both frames at once, and the African Initiated Churches, among them the large Zionist and amaNazaretha (Shembe) movements, weave ancestral respect, healing and prophecy together with Christian worship, so that veneration of the amadlozi and church membership commonly coexist in one family and one life.
Practices such as ukubuyisa, the ceremony of "bringing home" a deceased relative to take their place among the ancestors, continue to mark the passage of the dead into the community of the amadlozi. Describing the tradition accurately means using the present tense and recognising this coexistence, not consigning a living religion to the past; the material set out here is limited to what is publicly and respectfully shared.
Correspondences & Relations
Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
The amadlozi remain in the homestead and speak through dreams and illness, with a diviner consulted to identify which of them is speaking.
A tradition held by peoples inside this grouping. The grouping is not itself a religious body.
A tradition held by peoples inside this grouping. The grouping is not itself a religious body.
The tradition's liturgical, scriptural or ancestral language belongs to this family.
Objects and Practices of This Tradition
Zulu practice has its own form of ecstatic dance with its own rules about who dances and when.
A royal and religious Zulu ceremony rooted in earlier first-fruits and harvest rites.
The divine figures of the Zulu tradition.
Regions Where This Is Principal
Southern Africa, Regions Southern Africa is home to the Bantu-speaking Nguni, Sotho-Tswana and related peoples whose ancestor-centred traditions include Zulu Traditional Religion.
Related To
Zulu is a Bantu language; there is no single Bantu religion.
Worship Of
Sources
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