The history and potential of burial societies in creating basic Christian communities in South Africa

Abstract

Burial societies are small and cohesive, comprising members with shared rural and cultural roots. Burial societies are similarly syncretistic, in that they fuse African ‘tradition’ with elements of Christian modernity. The social values projected by burial societies in South Africa diagnose the core problem in African life which is death. Burial societies adopt a humanist approach to social affliction and they are the people’s haven in their own right. This article explores the possible relationship between burial societies and basic Christian communities in South Africa. AICs are used as a model of argument in this paper in providing such a haven of comfort and support in a death afflicted society. Both burial societies and the basic Christian communities are historical and there is a plan for the two to enter into.