San religion
San religion covers the traditional beliefs of the San people (also called Bushmen). These beliefs are not well documented because of their interactions with Christianity. The ǀXam prayed to the Sun and Moon, and many myths describe stars. To reach the spirit world, a shaman enters a trance guided by a tutelary spirit or a power animal. The eland is a common power animal, and its fat is used symbolically in initiations and rites. Other animals, such as giraffe, kudu, and hartebeest, can also serve. The great trance dance is one of the most important San rituals—a circular dance with women clapping and singing while men dance.
Hallucinogens are not known to be regularly used by the Kalahari San, though some student shamans may try them to enter trance for the first time. Psychologists study how altered states arise from rhythms, dance, music, sensory changes, and intense focus, and how these experiences relate to rock art. They describe three trance phases: phase 1 brings entoptic (eye-formed) figures like zigzags, dots, grids, and U-shapes; phase 2 involves interpreting these shapes and visualizing familiar patterns from nature; phase 3 involves a deep mental change where the shaman feels part of the experience and may see monsters or animals. Therianthropes (human figures with animal traits) in rock art may reflect this sense of transformation.
Rock art is widespread in Southern Africa, showing animals such as the eland and sometimes scenes of conflict or war. Some images depict humans and animals together in ways connected to trancing. Notable sites include uKhahlamba/Drakensberg Park, where paintings about 3,000 years old are found, and other regions like KwaZulu-Natal, the Free State, the North-Eastern Cape, the Northern Transvaal, and the Table Mountain sandstone of the Cape. A San trance dance from the San of Ghanzi, Botswana, was featured on BBC’s Around the World in 80 Faiths in 2009. In Mafube Local Municipality, Tweeling Mafahlaneng has a rock shelter with paintings that has never been documented.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 00:10 (CET).