Search

Travellers on the N4 highway just east of Pretoria can see evidence of a sacred spring next to the road with pilgrims moving around the landscape and collecting water. This research explored this place – called ‘En Four’ by some – and described visits and conversations had at the site in 2024. The first part of the research narrated the encounters and recorded the local and anecdotal knowledge shared by pilgrims and visitors. The research then analysed the religious significance of the water-based rituals using Rodney Stark’s religion-sociological theory of religion: it identified evidence of magic, prayer, ritual and mysticism. Finally, a number of findings considered the use, value and care of water at this religious site: En Four offers various religious experiences, contributes to mental and physical health and may enhance social cohesion and understanding. Contribution: This research recorded an important, but still undocumented, religious site, as well as the activities and rituals enacted at this place. It interpreted the African water-rituals uniquely from a religion-sociological perspective, also indicating its significance for both individuals and society. This contributed to an interreligious dialogue on, and reappreciation of water as being holy and transformative.

This article presents a historical contribution of African Independent Churches in South Africa, particularly with references to the Ibandla lamaNazaretha of Isaiah Shembe, Zion Christian Church (ZCC) of Engenas Lekganyane and the St John's Apostolic Faith Mission (AFM) of Christina Nku. There is no doubt that these churches continue to be attractive and relevant to the South African context in the 21st century. They form an integrated part of African Christianity in South Africa. The article investigates ways in which these churches respond to the spiritual and cultural needs of Africans. It is interesting to look at how the Holy Spirit, healing, prayer and prophecy manifest in these churches. The concept of African Spirituality is discussed and contextualised within these churches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper scrutinizes visitors’ perceptions on religious tourism in South Africa (SA). The selected research site is Moria, located in Polokwane in the Limpopo Province, which is popular for its annual gathering during the Easter holiday period. Additionally, this paper argues that the area of Moria has much potential in terms of tourism growth and development. Limpopo Province prides itself for the Zion Christian Church (ZCC) annual gathering due to economic spin-offs that are brought by the event. As such, it is suggested that the Provincial Government has to come up with mechanisms on how those economic spin-offs will benefit ordinary people and most importantly the tourism sector. To achieve this objective, 150 questionnaires were administered to visitors who attended the annual gathering in Moria during the Easter season in 2018. Furthermore, a simple random sampling technique was used and the collected data were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software. The analysis sheds more light on the respondents’ profiles and experiences of the visit. For instance, most visitors were from domestic tourists. Interestingly, close family members and friends mostly accompanied the visitors. The findings of this study reveal that the motives for visiting the site were mainly religious. In the same breath, some visitors admitted that they went to Moria to shop and to participate in other activities. It is also interesting to note that visitors were excited about the kind of treatment they received from the locals. This could be seen as something that has a potential to assist Moria to grow and develop in terms of tourism. It is the view of this paper that the Government (more especially at provincial level) has a duty in terms of helping Moria to boost its tourism and thereby attracting more visitors. For example, the areas surrounding Moria are always facing challenges of traffic congestion. The Provincial Government could introduce some mechanisms to alleviate the traffic congestion challenge to promote this area’s tourism sustainability.

While the mapping of continuities and differences between mainline and African Initiated Churches (AICs) has been carried out at national level, more work still has to be done on the Zion Christian Church (ZCC). In this article, I argue that an initially homogenising, determinist approach seeing a uniform rupture in all AICs from the Apostolic Faith Mission imported from Illinois in 1908 delayed adequate individual analyses of the AICs. I extend research on the ZCC specifically, by comparing and contrasting its recorded worship songs with those of other dominant AICs operating in its geographical vicinity. I intend to demonstrate that by juxtaposing this aspect of the ZCC with a similar phenomenon in the other ambient AICs in a geographical area, better determinate contours of existing knowledge about the ZCC will be achieved. While the Nazareth Baptist Church founded by Isaiah Shembe remains the first and among the biggest AICs, I exclude it from my comparison. First, I do so because adherents of this Church are most massively concentrated in KwaZulu-Natal Province (not the focus of this study), and not in the part of Limpopo Province that I focused on. Second, my view is that the AIC has received relatively adequate attention due to its earlier birth. Furthermore, my intention is not to conduct the study on a national scale, hence my inclusion of selected AICs due to their sharing of space with the ZCC in a specific place. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Literature analysing the interrelation of religion and economic performance suggests religion to explain differences in household income. Religious communities foster economically conducive attitudes and are important sources of social capital, particularly under weak economic structures. This paper targets at investigating effects of religiosity on rural household income using survey data from Greater Sekhukhune in the Limpopo Province of South Africa. Using insights from religious studies within a conceptual framework of rural household decision-making, the authors estimate an income equation that includes measures for religious affiliation. While church membership per se does not reveal a significant effect on household income, the results show a positive and robust relationship for membership in the Zion Christian Church and the practice of African traditional religion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this research is to analyse the motives and segment the Zion Christian Church (ZCC) pilgrims to the Zion City of Moria in South Africa during Easter according to these motives. Seven motives were identified: spiritual fulfilment, inner peace, inner healing, faith exploration, congregational togetherness, personal fulfilment and religious participation. Based on these motives, pilgrims were grouped into three distinctive clusters namely devotees, explorers and seekers. These clusters differ significantly based on their motives, sociodemographic and behavioural characteristics, thereby showing that these pilgrims are not a homogeneous market. This research contributes to the knowledge base regarding characteristics and behaviour of these specific and distinctive pilgrims in South Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oral traditions and indigenous knowledge of the Limpopo Province in South Africa suggest a meteor event occurred in the area several decades ago. This relatively recent significant meteor event with associated features may have contributed to a revitalization of 13th century ancestral geomythology, also based on an astronomical event, and to an ideological transformation that augmented a vast socio-political belief system in sub-Saharan Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]