female circumcision, polygamy, and approaches to gender relations—as peculiar compared with Western cultural practices. Portsmouth, N.H.: Heinemann, 1990. Among these beliefs are origin myths, the presence of deities, ancestor veneration, and divination. Kingship, Religion, and Rituals in a Nigerian Community: A Phenomenological Study of Ondo Yoruba Festivals. Perhaps the most fascinating of these pioneer movements are the Yoruba-inspired African American traditions. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1986. By ministering to deities and humans in liturgical worship, the clergy learn these rituals and languages. In African cultures celebrating the transition from childhood to adulthood takes many forms. . Family members must adhere to specific roles, privileges, and rights. Any crime is considered to defile the land and thus to offend Alà; violations include incest, adultery, larceny, birthing abnormal children, hostility, kidnaping, and murder. When an elderly person dies, Africans traditionally avoid using the word "death." The data comes from the Pew Research Center and it shows that Christians make up 50.9% of Africa’s population, followed by … The symbol can be found throughout Ghana. It was overtaken in the region by Islam in the seventh century—frequently by military incursion, commercial trading, and the nonviolent missionary efforts of merchants. Carved totemic and ritual objects may serve as important sources of knowledge for the newly initiated. Throughout the centuries of transatlantic slave trading, Africans took their religious practices to the Americas and the Caribbean. In most traditional African cultures morals are of two classes—those that govern individual conduct and those that govern social and community relations. Similar to the oral traditions, the arts of architecture, design, sculpture, textiles, dance, drumming, and music function as sacred "texts," transmitting and reinforcing traditional religions for new generations. Cole, H.M. (1982). First, in the origin myths of several peoples, such as the Baganda of Uganda and the Edo of Nigeria, the first king or chief of the community was endowed with the sacred power of the Supreme Deity. Scarification or tattoo is a permanent mode of cultural adornment signifying identification with beliefs; motifs are often based on abstract designs, leaf forms, and totemic flora and fauna. During their long periods of apprenticeship diviners memorize Ifa verses, which may be as long as 256 odu. The Lupupans believe that the body (mbidi) houses the spirit (kikudi) and that when death occurs, the spirit leaves for elungu, a special land that the ancestors inhabit. The Manyika of Zimbabwe bestow ancestor status only on males, and the status is not necessarily associated with fatherhood; a childless Manyika adult male who dies may become an ancestor if a nephew includes him in his own ancestor cult. Major social concerns for followers of African traditional religions include poverty and the environment. The work presents Abrahamic monotheistic religions and the belief of the traditional religions in Africa, especially in Igboland. For instance, the Yoruba believe that the Supreme Being, Olódùmarè, designated the orisa (deities) responsible for creating the universe. West African Religion: A Study of the Beliefs and Practices of Akan, Ewe, Yoruba, Ibo, and Kindred Peoples. Breaking the laws of the community offends the ancestors, who may wreak disaster upon the offender and community as well. Mawu is often associated with a partner, Lisa. Spirits may be divided into human spirits and nature spirits. African artists produce sacred icons and symbols of traditional religions in an enormous array of forms, both abstract and representational. The story conveys the division and crisis between two generations; through sacrifice, order is restored. In contrast to structured Western religions, traditional African religions are organized with relatively little concern for formal structure. For instance, Mbuya (grandmother) Nehanda, a spirit medium in Zimbabwe, played an important role in mobilizing people in the fight against for political independence beginning in the late nineteenth century. The first Africans who arrived on North American shores brought their own religious worldviews with them…, The African diaspora is a term that refers to the dispersal of African peoples to form a distinct, transnational community. Oral narratives define morals and values for traditional religions, just as written texts do for religions that have sacred books. The Study of Religions in Africa: Past, Present, and Prospects. African traditional religions do not proselytize because traditional religious expression is accepted as unique to an ethnic group. Parrinder, Edward Geoffrey. The oldest man of the family or community is often a priest, because he is the closest to the dead and has lived the longest life. Since it is a religion practised by living persons today, changes are to be expected. Because of the oral nature of African sacred Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1937. Sometimes the witchdoctors used herbs and other remedies to help the sick. Various African cultures have developed intricate sets of ethical customs, rules, and taboos. African Traditional religion (ATR) is one of the world religions with a great people and a great past. While some religions adopted a pantheistic worldview, most follow a polytheistic system with various gods, spirits and other supernatural beings. Perhaps the finest critic of African religious scholarship was Ugandan writer and anthropologist O. p'Bitek. Although the rituals marking elderhood are more rare today, certain cultures, such as the Owo Yoruba (a subgroup of the Yoruba people of Nigeria) and the Masai (of Tanzania and Kenya), celebrate transition to the honored elder status. Devotees of traditional religions recognize domestic and wild animals as sacred and full of great power. A nightmare indicates the coming of an unpleasant event. In traditional African cultures marriage, raising children, and fulfilling familial obligations are religious duties. Such mythic figures and culture heroes include Oduduwa in Nigeria, Shaka the Zulu in South Africa, and Osei Tutu in Ghana. The location of graves varies from group to group. It deals with their cosmology, ritual practices, symbols, arts, society and so on .because religion is a way of life, it relates to culture and society as they affect the worldview of the African people. We have recently updated our Privacy Policy. If the living maintain a cordial relationship with the ancestors, one of the spirits returns to be reborn into the lineage. The chief was the link between the living and the dead, and his highest role was when he officiated in the public religious rites which gave expression to the community values. £27.00 Elders, priests, and priestesses have served as guardians of the sacred traditions. Ancestor veneration, polygamy, circumcision, magic, and beliefs in spirits and other divinities are common in both popular Islam and African traditional religions. There is no standard or widespread characteristic of ancestorhood, but the criteria used throughout Africa share similarities. In many creation stories God is likened to a potter who creates humans out of clay and then pours the breath of life into them. The diffusionist theory held that religious ideas of the Mediterranean region had proliferated, eventually reaching the peoples of sub-Saharan Africa. During this period many scholars of African religious studies were passionately nationalistic. Only by giving a belief system a proper name can a comprehensive, complex theology and cosmology emerge, along with a mor… Even if a person has a number of spiritual skills, however, he or she may concentrate efforts in a single area. Examples are Ifa divination verses, which amount to 256 chapters of text. As in any democratic system, individuals may participate in ways that benefit their interests, their community roles, or their status as religious leaders. For instance, a girl born after the death of a grandmother or mother is called Yetunde or Iyabo ("mother has returned"), and a boy born after the death of a grandfather or father is called Babatunde ("father has returned"). In one version of Fon cosmogony Nana Buluku, a creator god, gives birth to Mawu and Lisa. Painting the body with white chalk or another substance for ceremonial purposes is also a common way to identify a devotee's beliefs or stage of life. Ifá: An Exposition of Ifá Literary Corpus. Fundamental human rights are often seen as important not for the sake of individuals but for the collective survival of the group. It is taboo to bring unfavorable foods near the shrines, and devotees of these deities refrain from partaking of these foods. To the most senior set of twins Mawu-Lisa bestowed authority to rule the Earth. Then, copy and paste the text into your bibliography or works cited list. In most West African communities burials take place on pieces of land within the family's compound; these are regarded as secured places where the dead will be at peace. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1997. Because indigenous societies are mainly nonliterate, oral traditions expressed in poetry, proverbs, and mythic narratives are sources of African literary traditions. Refer to each style’s convention regarding the best way to format page numbers and retrieval dates. Although their inquiries were fraught with bias, some outsiders were more reliable than others. Traditional artists typically carve images that express the powers of God, demigods, ancestors, and spirits as intermediaries between deities and humans. The African Experience: An Introduction. Because of their personal associations with a divinity, priests and certain religious specialists honor food taboos; it is also thought that, by doing so, they can perform rituals effectively for observers of these restrictions. © 2019 Encyclopedia.com | All rights reserved. This entry presents a brief, general picture of Africa's traditional religious heritage, focusing on the major beliefs because these underlie the…, Candomblé, an Afro-Brazilian religion of Yoruba, Fon, and Bantu origin developed primarily in the Northeast by African slaves from Nigeria and their…, religion He currently teaches Theology and Research at Amani University Project in Njombe, which operates under the University of Iringa in Tanzania. Although ritual has changed over time according to the social, political, environmental, and spiritual needs of individuals, it continues to be a real connection with the past—a connection that Africans take seriously as they pass their culture from one generation to the next. The initiated are priests and priestesses and may hold titles within the cult. Proper burial entails a performance of elaborate funeral ceremonies by all members of the deceased's descendants. In the cosmology of the Dagara (an ethnic group in the Niger region of West Africa), for instance, the wheel or circle represents the cyclical nature of life as well as of the Earth. Contemporary African religious leaders include those who have been interested in reviving traditional religion. Leaders in African traditional religions are the people who impart religious wisdom and guidance to believers. texts, the faithful who transmit this knowledge are considered sacred. The religious beliefs, practices and the€human characteristics (such … While the Kaguru have no such generic naming system, their naming patterns are closely associated with ancestral veneration. Retrieved January 12, 2021 from Encyclopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/african-traditional-religions. During such days ordinary community activities—fishing, farming, and buying or selling at the market—are prohibited to honor the deities. This Ghanaian Adinkra symbol means "except for God" and symbolizes the supremacy of God. Many wild animals are sacred because they have wisdom and powers, because they are believed to be inhabited by spirits, and because it is said that in some cases they were sent to earth by God to communicate with humans. Because there are no sacred books, however, it is impossible to know what traditional religions were like 500 or 1,000 years ago. The African understanding of immortality is tied to remembrance after death. African Traditional Religion: A Definition. This accounts for the varying figures that are sometimes seen in . Gender is a major factor in many traditional ancestral cultures; males rather than females have tended to benefit from ancestral ideology. A male priest or a traditional ruler may wear a long hairstyle signifying a female deity, thereby assuming the persona of the deity and establishing a special connection with her. Some religious rituals involve the devotees offering the gods and ancestors sacrificial animals, libations of water or alcohol, or small amounts of favored food. Women retain exclusive rights to direct any rituals related to twin ancestors, perhaps because they are responsible for their physical birth. Trained in the new method of "fieldwork"—which entailed observing participants and speaking the language of the community—these anthropologists worked for their governments. These objects emphasize that the body, conceived in the earth, returns to the earth. The Fon of Benin, in western Africa, and their neighbors, the Yoruba of Nigeria, share many elements of a highly intricate cosmology. ——. Some of the academic priests, including Parrinder, Father Placid Temple, and Zaireois V. Mulago, were influenced by the inclusive views of liberal theology developed by Protestant and Catholic academic theologians in North American and European universities. Every aspect of it cannot be described as original. Another set, "Twins of Storm," retained authority to govern thunder and lightening. Unlike other world faiths, African traditional religions have no predominant doctrinal teachings. Shrines, religious objects, and sacred places are decorated with many forms, shapes, and colors to express religious concepts. This is a 3-hour summary lecture on the basic components of African Traditional Religions. 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