How the San society was organized

THE SAN

These are believed to have been the earliest modem inhabitants of South Africa.

They are generally known as Bushmen; a name given to them by the Boers. They are also referred to as the Twa by theXhosaand Roa by the Basotho, Basarua by the Tswana, San or Saan by the Khoisan.

It was a pygmy race of hunters.

The San belong to the Bushmoraid race. The San are yellowish brown skinned, with a short structure and a 'click' and croak sound in their language. They originally lived in Central and Eastern Africa.

They were forced southwards by stronger and more organized Bantu speaking peoples.

They also migrated due to over population, famine and drought, internal conflicts, shortage of food; like insects, rich root plants and water, adventure and epidemics like; small pox, sleeping sickness.

On their arrival in South Africa, the San settled in Damaraland, Cape coast Batlapin, and the hills of Griqualand West, theOrange Free State, the Transvaal and Transkei.

Today the remains of their settlements are shown in rock paintings, stone implements and engravings found in the present day areas of Botswana, Namibia and Angola and the confluence of the orange and Vaal rivers and the Highveld.

How the San society was organized

Political Organization

The San did not have a common central authority but instead the work of government was done at the level of settlementthrough a headman (eider), with the assistance of the council of elders.

The headman’s role was to implement what was decided by the council of elders. The headman also exercised ritual power, which increased his political authority.

Regular council meetings were held to handle important political matters. Membership to council meetings was open to all male adults.

The San were divided into three large groups; each comprising a number of tribes, which in turn formed scattered settlements. The groups among them included the Northern San, Central and the Southern San.Members of each group were bound together by a common language.

Economic Organization

Economically, the San were great hunters and fruit gatherers. They also kept no domestic animals except their hunting dogs. They lived by hunting wild animals.

The San ate wild tuberous roots, fruits, lizards, fish, termites, honey and locusts, white ants and caterpillars. They grew no food crops.

To supplement on their diet, the San caught fish in rivers such as Kei, Vaal, Tsumu-Omzirnvubu and Tugela. The hunters used bows and poisoned arrows for small game, but in order to get a large game, pits were dug. To them the dog was a very important animal.

The San led a predominantly nomadic way of life. They did not grow food crops like the Bantu speakers. In their wars women were their chief war booty. They could mutilate people whom they killed and could eat them in bad times. In fact they killed and ate their own children if they were starving.

Their wealth consisted of their hunting dogs, territories, temporary shelters and caves with rock painting pictures of their animals displayed. When other people entered their region, they carried out constant raids against the San. Being weaker compared to the new comers, the San were mainly displaced.

Social Organization

Being nomadic, the San kept on moving from place to place and in areas where they settled, they lived in small settlements mostly composed of20 - 100 people. A few large settlements consisted between 200 and 500 people. The San slept in caves and temporary shelters. Their caves were usually decorated with beautiful rock wall paintings based on their daily life experience.

The boys underwent initiation where by their hunting skills were tested. Initiation was performed at puberty. It was also a common practice for girls of about 8 years to be married to boys of 14 and 15 years. After marriage, the boy would join the wife's family for whom he was obliged to hunt. He stayed there until they produced the first-born child.

Polygamy was widely practiced, but being nomadic they had few children because many children would be a burden to nomadic families.

They used traditional healing herbs as medicine and taught their use to the youth.

The San also lived by dancing at the new and full moon. At the dances, the hunters prayed for good fortune in the hunting expedition.

The San were artists and they painted on rocks to record major events, as their religious beliefs were related to their form of art.

The religious beliefs among the San indicated that they believed in life after death and their super natural being. They believed in their god called Kaggen and the preying mantis largely represented him. The San treated the preying mantis with respect because it was a symbol of wealth and good fortune.

The most important ceremony among the Khoisan was sacrifice for rain because they lived in dry areas.

The San offered prayers to heavenly bodies including the moon. They also believed that Kaggen had power over such things as rain, thunder and lightning. He was thought to live in the sky with souls of dead people.

They also celebrated important occasions like birth, puberty, marriage and death by sprinkling the person with gall of asacrificial animal.

The San way of life was interrupted by other people who included the Khoikhoi, Bantu and the Europeans. Some of the San ended up either being destroyed or absorbed by the new comers.

Today only a few typical original San live in the Republic of South Africa and the rest totaling to about 1,500 live in Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland and Namibia.