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THE HEAVENLY BODIES IN SOUTH AFRICAN 

 MYTHOLOGY. 



BY 



Rev. S. S. Dornan, M.A. 



Read July 13, 1921. 



The present paper deals with the sun, moon, and stars in 

 native folklore. Apparently there is no very clear distinction 

 drawn between the sun and moon, at any rate in Bushman folk 

 tales. Each is as important as the other. They are generally 

 regarded as living things, that can influence the destinies of the 

 people, and even imprint their shapes upon them. 



The Astronomical Lore of the Bushmen. 



It is an open question whether the Bushmen actually worship 

 the heavenly bodies. Dr. Bleek says that "the Bushmen are 

 clearly to be included amongst the nations who have attained to- 

 sidereal worship."* He says the sun and moon are prayed to, 

 and quotes two prayers to each in support of his statement. While 

 I am disposed, on the whole, to agree with Dr. Bleek, it is difficult 

 to say how far the Bushmen of to-day really worship the sun and 

 moon. I have little acquaintance with the southern Bushmen, 

 and that almost wholly derived from books, but from what I know 

 of the Tati and Ngami Bushmen I should hesitate to apply the 

 term worship to them. That they reverence the heavenly bodies, 

 more especially the sun and moon, is true, but they seem to have 

 more fear of them than anything else. They think that they must 

 keep on good terms with them if they are to be successful in hunt- 

 ing and love making. Several of them, whom I questioned, denied 

 that they worshipped the sun and moon in the sense that the 

 Bechuanas worshipped God. I did not attach much importance- 

 to their denials, however. 



Amongst the Bushmen the sun is regarded as a man from 

 whose armpit brightness proceeded. He lived formerly upon earth, 

 but his light only extended round his own house. As this was not 

 satisfactory some children were sent to throw him into the sky 

 while he slept, since when he shines over the earth. When the 

 children took him up he felt hot, and they threw him very gently 

 into the sky without wakening him. In the same story the moon 

 is made by the sun in the following manner: — A man incurs the 

 wrath of the sun, who pierces him with his knife, and goes on 

 cutting him away until very little is left, and the moon implores 

 the sun to spare even his backbone for his children. From this 

 cutting process the moon grows until it becomes full, when the 

 work begins all over again. This is to explain the waxing and 

 waning of the moon. I once asked some Tati Bushmen why the 



* Bleek, "A Brief Account of Bushman Folklore." p. 9. 



