Star Lore of the Khoi and San

"My belief is in the blood and flesh as being wiser than the intellect. The body-conscious is where life bubbles up in us. It is how we know we are alive, alive to the depths of our souls, and in touch somewhere with the vivid reaches of the cosmos." 

-D.H. Lawrence

The Khoisan were the nomadic, indigenous peoples the Portuguese navigators and Dutch settlers encountered in the Cape Peninsula in the 15th and 16th Centuries. The European settlers called them Hottentots but are today collectively known as the Khoisan. They comprised three distinct groups:

• the Strandlopers (literally "beach walkers"). These were beachcombers living off shellfish and generally dwelt in the caves along the coast. They were the "Sea People".
• the Khoikhoi (literally "men of men") were pastoralists. They were the "Herd People".
• the San who were hunter-gatherers. They were the "Bush People". The Khoikhoi called them the Sankhoi.

Eva Krotoa was Khoikhoi whose grandfather was a Strandloper.

Unfortunately many of the traditional beliefs and legends of the southern Cape Khoi were lost in time. However the stories and rock painting records of the Khoisan from other parts of southern Africa have thankfully been preserved.

Sky Legends and Star Lore of the Khoi and the San

* A girl child of the old people had magical powers so strong that when she looked at a group of fierce lions, they were immediately turned to stars.  The largest are now in Orion's belt. 

* A strong-willed girl became so angry when her mother would not give her any of a delicious roasted root that she grabbed the roasting roots from the fire and threw the roots and ashes into the sky, where the red and white roots now glow as red and white stars, and the ashes are the Milky Way. 

* When the Pleiades appear in the east, little ones are lifted by their mothers and presented to the stars. The Pleiades are considered friendly and the children are taught to stretch their hands toward them.

* According to the Namaquas, the Pleiades were the daughters of the sky god.  When their husband (Aldebaran) shot his arrow (Orion's sword) at three zebras (Orion's belt), it fell short.  He dared not return home because he had killed no game, and he dared not retrieve his arrow because of the fierce lion (Betelgeuse) which sat watching the zebras.  There he sits still, shivering in the cold night  and suffering thirst and hunger. 

-Compilation by Dave Laney, SAAO
http://www.astronomy2009.org.za/fileadmin/files/education/astrocd/resources/South%20Africa/HartRAO/Ch08_Star_Patterns_06a.pdf

The Khoi appear to have revered their ancestors and elevated them as sky gods. These were the "Sky People". Generally the belief was that Earth People become Sky People. Sometimes it may have been thought that the Sky People returned to the Earth when meteors or comets were observed. Some early European writers believed the Khoi were moon worshippers. The Khoikhoi Supreme Being was Tsui Goab ("Wounded Knee").  He was a chief by the name of Tikqua who had progressed and after many transmigrations on his eventual ascension became the Sky God. (http://www.vanhunks.com/cape1/vanhunks1.html)

Of peculiar interest is the Khoi reverence for the Praying Mantis. "Khoi and San mythology refers to the praying mantis as a god. The word for the mantis in Afrikaans is hottentotsgot (literally, the god of the Khoi)." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mantis) The San say that the praying mantis gave them words and fire.

The Hottentots-god
by Henry Jansen alias Xam 

One day all the animals got together and decided to destroy the one; namely the Hottentots-god. He was too fine and small, and usually sat in every tree and bush for days on end and never did anything. Elephants flattened every tree to get rid of the Hottentots-god. Lion roared that the earth shook and even the hyena lifted its last leg. Then a big drought arrived and everyone started to suffer, as there was no rain to feed the plants or the animals. Then they realized that the Hottentots-god always prayed for rain, but by then it was too late... 

[Let there be a place for everyone under the sun - and everyone to take their lawful place - even the bushman to tame nature and to dance for the rain.]

Hjalmar Thesen's haunting story, The Echoing Cliffs, ends with Liklik looking into the eyes of Kwiknee. There has been a massacre and Liklik says to her, "Look long, my little one, for we shall not see it again... Tonight there will be many new stars in the sky, our friends will be watching over us."

Kwiknee shivers and moves closer to Liklik and replies, "When the moons of one hand have shone over the ocean, your child will be born. This I tell you now, while my heart grieves for the people we shall not see again... My eyes are your eyes, my ears are your ears. My eyes look with yours towards the place where the sun sets and a home that will be the home of your children."

Indeed! Our souls are “in touch somewhere with the vivid reaches of the cosmos”! I owe something of this to my own ancestors.

Note:
The origin of the belief in the Sacred Mantis is obscure and the connection with the Alien Mantids of UFO lore is at best perhaps curious but largely conjecture. Or is it? See the somewhat bizarre reports of "Praying Mantis like Aliens" at http://www.ufobc.ca/Beyond/prayingmantis/index.htm and http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread299896/pg1 . Outlandish ? See my next blog!

Further reading:
Penny Miller, Myths And Legends of Southern Africa.
Hjalmar Thesen, The Echoing Cliffs, 1963, Hutchinson & Co.

©Colin G Garvie HomePage: http://www.garvies.co.za