GOING GODDESS™

QUABSO-Copyright © 2008 by CBREEZE


Quabso-"wind-rider", a goddess of the weather, health, fertility and rain. Tanzania

The Sandawe are a small remaining group of a race of people that originally lived over much of Africa. They live in north central Tanzania in Kondo District, near the town of Kondoa, between the Mponde and Bubu rivers.

The San, called the Bushmen by the Dutch in South Africa, were the first people we know of in the Rift Valley. The San as a group are considered to be the oldest human lineage in the world. The Bantu name "Twa" (the original Earth people) is the same word the Zulus use for the Khoisan click-language speakers they found in their early migrations into what is now Natal province of South Africa. One San tribe there today is still called Twa.

The Sandawe religion gives a central place to cave spirits living in the hills, to ancestor worship and divination. They fear the cave spirits and no hunting, herding or wood-gathering is allowed near their caves. They make annual sacrifices to appease the hill spirits, shouting prayers loudly as they climb to the sacrificing area. They also sacrifice at the graves of their ancestors in public ceremonies.

The San peoples practice their traditional tribal religious rituals and they are very closed to Christianity. They believe in a High God, called Warongwe, a distant spirit that is not active in their lives. They see certain animals (especially the praying mantis) and celestial bodies (sun, moon, morning star, and the southern cross) as symbols of divinity.
The moon is believed to be the source of rain and fertility. They also believe that dancing near a sacred fire will bring healing.
Copyright © 1997, 2008 Orville Boyd Jenkins