Religion

 

Botswana's early tribal religions were cults in which the forefathers ruled their families' matters from the afterlife and only the family chiefs could contact them. The various religious rituals included the bogwera and the bojale, that is male and female initiation ceremonies, and the gofethla pula, the rain dances. The San's folklore is extremely full of supernatural explanations regarding natural phenomena and their traditional beliefs are rather simple and free of dogmas.

 

The first Christian missionaries in the 19th century introduced new ideas and creeds in the country, which inevitably ended in the replacement of almost all Botswana's tribal traditions and rituals. Besides, missionaries forbid the cult of the forefathers, polygamy and drinking alcohol.

 

Today's statistical picture reveals that about 60% of Botswana's people are Christian, but probably only 20% of them practising. Most of Christians belong to the Zion Christian Church, but the Lutheran, the Catholic, the Anglican and the Methodist Christian Church have a lot of followers as well. An Islamic Centre has been built in Gaborone for Muslim immigrants.