‖badimo, plural noun

/baˈdiːmu/
Forms:
Also badzimo, barimo, and with initial capital.
Origin:
SothoShow more Sotho, gods, ancestral spirits (singular modimo, see Modimo).
Especially among Sotho-speakers: ancestral spirits. See also itongo, Modimo.
Note:
Quotation 1857 is in the context of a people living to the north of South Africa.
[1857 D. Livingstone Missionary Trav. 316He had just come from attending the funeral of one of his people, and found that the great amount of drum-beating that takes place on these occasions was with the idea that the Barimo, or spirits, could be drummed to sleep.]
[1857 D. Livingstone Missionary Trav. 331One of my men of that tribe, on experiencing headache, said, with a sad and thoughtful countenance, ‘My father is scolding me because I do not give him any of the food I eat.’ I asked where his father was. ‘Among the Barimo,’ was the reply.]
1905 W.H. Tooke in Flint & Gilchrist Science in S. Afr. 92The be-Chuana..believe in a chief spirit, Morimo, powerful and malicious, but which..seems to bear no ancestral relation to his worshipper. They also, like the Kafirs, believe in the spirits of the dead ba-rimo, with which the priests or senyaka have intercourse.
1960 C. Hooper Brief Authority 123I used to dream of the voices of the badimo, and winding tracks among the hills taking me on journeys.
1962 M. Brandel-Syrier Black Woman 132A very important Church minister..goes to the City Hall and places a wreath there. Isn’t he thinking of his ancestors? But if I slaughter a goat to my Badimo, I am excommunicated.
1976 S. Fugard Rite of Passage 13At night the badimo, the spirits of the ancestors, came and mocked. They laughed at the white man and his stupidity.
1981 M. Mutloatse in Staffrider Vol.3 No.4, 42The gusty sounds of mhalamhala were running through the blood vessels of the comrades...It was just no coincidence: it had been planned, long planned by the badzimo.
1988 M. Manyanye in Pace May 22We know what we are worshipping because we know that our ancestors, whom we call ‘badimo’ are mediators between us and our God, whom we call ‘Modimo’. We know ‘Badimo’, you know ‘Jesus’.
ancestral spirits.
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18571988

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