The Red Thread

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The Red Thread: San Painting in Eswatini shows why ancient San, previously known as Bushmen, selected sacred places of power, and the meaning and context of some paintings. After thousands of years in cultural isolation around 400 CE black settlers arrived with cattle and agriculture. This started competition for resources and resulted in a long slow decline, leading to genetic extinction. Although there are no San left in the country many of the sacred places and ritual were appropriated by the black settlers and are now integrated into mainstream Swazi traditional culture. Some of the places are now the focus of Swazi rituals, God’s purported footprint in rock, once sacred to the San, is guarded by resident soldiers to this day. Many sacred pools are the focus of widespread Zionist shamanic rituals, and one painting site regularly has Zionists entering trance through circular dancing beneath it.