South African Mythology

I decided to look at two tribes from South Africa which are The Bushman/San and the Zulu people. I have decided to look into the mythology of these tribes to gain a better knowledge and understanding of the culture which will also will help me to generate ideas and help me in my scriptwriting process.

The Bushmen/San

San creator Kaggen/Cagn is a trickster who features in many of their myths and takes many forms such as human, mantis, eland, hare, caterpillar but usually takes the form of the Mantis.
In many of the myth's Cagn is portrayed as foolish, wise, helpful and playful.
Cagn is the god who created the world and all the people in it.

San Shamanism
For the San, the natural and supernatural worlds are entwined, and the San rock paintingstestify to the importance of the shamanism in the San culture. The San say that Cagn dreamt the world into being and the San shamans can enter a similar dream state to exercise their powers, such as rain making, healing and hunting magic. When in this state the shaman is said to have died; his or her heart is said to have become a star.
One of the main sources of San mythology was the /Xam shaman /Kabbo, who's name translates as "Dream" and who is said to have derived his powers from Cagn. San shamans are said to be able to shape shift particularly into the form of a Lion.

/Kaggen's Eland

Things you may need to to know for the myth below;

Eland - Taurotragus (Antelope)

Kwammang-a - A rainbow

/Ni-opwa - the Ichneumon

Making an Eland
Kwammang-a, the Rainbow, lost a piece of his shoe. His father in law Cagn, the mantis, found it and soaked it in a pool of water. It turned into the first eland. and trilled to it to come to him and called it Kwammang-a's shoe-piece. Cagn rubbed the eland with honeycomb to make it shine, and fed it on honey until it was full-sized. When he saw how beautiful it was Cagn sang for joy.
The death of the Eland
Kwammang-a and his son /Ni-opwa the Ichneumon wondered what Cagn was doing with all the honey, so /Ni-opwa spied on his grandfather and saw the eland. Kwammang-a lay in wait for it and killed it while it drank from the pool. When Cagn arrived to see Kwammang-a cutting up the eland, he wept.
The coming of night
Cagn took the eland's gall-bladder and pierced it with a stick. Darkness poured out covering the world. So that there might be some light Cagn tossed his own shoe into the sky and it became the moon.
The myth's legacy
To this day the eland is the most spiritually charged of animals appearing in four key rituals of the Bushman - a boy's first kill, a girls puberty, marriage and the trance dance, in which the San shamans attempt to take on the potency of the eland.

The origin of Death

In the San mythology the moon walks across the sky like the shoe he once was, when the moon is full, the sun pierces him in the back with his knife, so that he decay's on ly leaving his backbone.

Then following the promise of the creator Cagn, the moon is slowly reborn, until once again he feels truly alive again. Until he was annoyed by the hare, the moon wantd the animal-people of the San creation time to enjoy the same privilage.

The time before death

Just as the moon always rose after his death, he wanted the people to return after their deaths. The moon wished for the people as he did, for allowing them to be reborn would bring them joy.

The danger of despair

A human in the form of a hare was greiving for his dead mother. "My mother is dead and will never come back," he lamented. The moon said "Don't cry she will come back." "No," said the hair "she is dead and will never return." Because the hare would not agree with him, the moon flew into a rage, he struck the hare, leaving a scar on his lip, and cursed him. The angry moon declared "As for men they shall die and never return," and with his words began death.

The information above was taken from the book 'Mythology by Philip Wilkinson & Neil Philip'

I also have looked into information on the internet on these myths however very much how these myths have various versions from over the years so do the facts on these myths on the internet which makes it difficult to get a clear vision but i have tried to pick out points where most of the sources tend to agree and i will go from there for developing a script.

Shamans

Shamans are intermediaries between the human and spirit world. Arising from many ancient cultures around the planet, they use altered states of consciousness to enter supernatural realms.Shamans are intermediaries between the human and spirit world. Arising from many ancient cultures around the planet, they use altered states of consciousness to enter supernatural realms.

Communicate with the spirit world, with its good and evil spirits
Understand the roles of spirits in our lives and in human society
Treat sickness caused by evil spirits
Employ trance induction techniques to go on vision quests
Leave their body on demand to enter the supernatural world
Evoke animal images as spirit guides, omens and message bearers
Tell the future, scry, throw runes and perform other divination

Shamanism is based on the idea that the physical world is permeated by invisible spirits which affect our lives. It operates outside of religion, with most shamans working alone or with an apprentice.
One interesting function of shamanism is the ability to communicate with spirits in lucid dreams. A lucid dreamer who does this is known as a psychopomp. As a ferrier of souls, they help spirits cross over from within the dreamtime (aka the dream environment).