Traditional African religions

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Traditional African religions
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Local African ceremony in Benin featuring a zangbeto.

The traditional African religions or traditional beliefs and practices of African people are highly diverse beliefs that include various ethnic religions.^[1][2] Generally, these traditions are oral rather than scriptural and passed down from one generation to another through folk tales, songs, and festivals,^[3][4] include belief in an amount of higher and lower gods, sometimes including a supreme creator or force, belief in spirits, veneration of the dead, use of magic and traditional African medicine. Most religions can be described as animistic^[5][6] with various polytheistic and pantheistic aspects.^[7][1] The role of humanity is generally seen as one of harmonizing nature with the supernatural.^[1][8]

History[]

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Spread[]

An early-20th-century Igbo medicine man in Nigeria, West Africa

Adherents of traditional religions in sub-Saharan Africa are distributed among 43 countries and are estimated to number over 100 million.^[9][10]

Although most Africans today are adherents of Christianity or Islam, African people often combine the practice of their traditional beliefs with the practice of Abrahamic religions.^{[11][12][13][14][15]} The two Abrahamic religions are widespread across Africa, though mostly concentrated in different areas. They have replaced indigenous African religions but are often adapted to African cultural contexts and belief systems. Abrahamic religious beliefs, especially monotheistic elements, such as the belief in a single creator god, was introduced into traditionally polytheistic African religions rather early.^[16]

Followers of traditional African religions are also found around the world. In recent times, religions, such as the Yoruba religion, are on the rise. The religion of the Yoruba is finding roots in the Islands of the Caribbean and portions of Central and South America. In the United States, Vudon is more predominant in the states along the Gulf of Mexico.^[17]

Basics[]

Animism builds the core concept of traditional African religions, this includes the worship of tutelary deities, nature worship, ancestor worship and the belief in an afterlife. While some religions adopted a pantheistic worldview, most follow a polytheistic system with various gods, spirits and other supernatural beings.^[18] Traditional African religions also have elements of fetishism, shamanism and veneration of relics.^[19]

Traditional Vodun dancer enchanting gods and spirits, in Ganvie, Benin.

Traditional African, like most other ancient traditional religions around the world, were based on oral traditions. These traditions are not religious principles, but a cultural identity that is passed on through stories, myths and tales, from one generation to the next. The community and ones family, but also the environment, plays an important role in one's personal life. Followers believe in the guidance of their ancestors spirits. Among many traditional African religions, there are spiritual leaders and kinds of priests. These persons are essential in the spiritual and religious survival of the community. There are mystics that are responsible for healing and 'divining' - a kind of fortune telling and counseling, similar to shamans. These traditional healers have to be called by ancestors or gods. They undergo strict training and learn many necessary skills, including how to use natural herbs for healing and other, more mystical skills, like the finding of a hidden object without knowing where it is. Traditional African religion believe that ancestors maintain a spiritual connection with their living relatives. Most ancestral spirits are generally good and kind. Negative actions taken by ancestral spirits is to cause minor illnesses to warn people that they have gotten onto the wrong path.^[20]

It is suggested that most ancient traditional African religions, like most other indigenous folk religions around the world, were strictly polytheistic and lacked the belief in monotheistic concepts, such as a single supreme creator god. Native African religions are centered on ancestor worship, the belief in a spirit world, supernatural beings and free will (unlike the later developed concept of faith). Deceased humans (and animals or important objects) still exist in the spirit world and can influence or interact with the physical world. Polytheism was widespreaded in most of ancient African and other regions of the world, before the introduction of Islam, Christianity, and Judaism. An exception was the short-lived monotheistic religion created by Pharaoh Akhenaten, who made it mandatory to pray to his personal god Aton (see Atenism).^[21] This remarkable changes to traditional Egyptian religion were however reverted by the next Pharao of Egypt.^{[22][23][24][25]} High gods, along with other more specialized deities, ancestor spirits, territorial spirits, and beings, are a common theme among traditional African religions, highlighting the complex and advanced culture of ancient Africa.^[25][26][27]

Some researchers, including historical ethnolinguist Christopher Ehret, suggest that certain monotheistic concepts, such as the belief in a high god or force (next to other many other gods, deities and spirits) were present within Africa, before the introduction of Abrahamic religions. However these indigenous concepts were substantially different from the monotheism found in Abrahamic religions.^{[28][29][25][30]}

Traditional Koku dancer, bearing strong similarities to religious dancers of the Dravidian folk religion in Southern India.

Traditional African medicine is also directly linked to traditional African religions. According to Clemmont E. Vontress, the various religious traditions of Africa are united by a basic Animism. According to him, the belief in spirits and ancestors is the most important element of African religions. Gods were either self-created or evolved from spirits or ancestors which got worshiped by the people. He also notes that most modern African folk religions were strongly influenced by non-African religions, mostly Christianity and Islam and thus may differ from the ancient forms.^[31]

Nigerian American professor of indigenous African religions at Harvard University, Jacob Olupona summarized the many traditional African religions as complex animistic religious traditions and beliefs of the African people before the Christian and Islamic "colonization" of Africa. Ancestor veneration has always played a "significant" part in the traditional African cultures and may be considered as central to the African worldview. Ancestors (ancestral ghosts/spirits) are an integral part of reality. The ancestors are generally believed to reside in an ancestral realm (spiritworld), while some believe that the ancestors became equal in power to deities.^[32]

The defining line between deities and ancestors is often contested, but overall, ancestors are believed to occupy a higher level of existence than living human beings and are believed to be able to bestow either blessings or illness upon their living descendants. Ancestors can offer advice and bestow good fortune and honor to their living dependents, but they can also make demands, such as insisting that their shrines be properly maintained and propitiated. A belief in ancestors also testifies to the inclusive nature of traditional African spirituality by positing that deceased progenitors still play a role in the lives of their living descendants.

Olupona rejects the western/islamic definition of Monotheism and says that such concepts could not reflect the complex African traditions and are too simplistic. While some traditions have a supreme being (next to other deities), others have not. Monotheism does not reflect the multiplicity of ways that the traditional African spirituality has conceived of deities, gods, and spirit beings. He summarizes that traditional African religions are not only religions, but a worldview, a way of life.^[33]

Ceremonies[]

West and Central African religious practices generally manifest themselves in communal ceremonies or divinatory rites in which members of the community, overcome by force (or ashe, nyama, etc.), are excited to the point of going into meditative trance in response to rhythmic or driving drumming or singing. One religious ceremony practiced in Gabon and Cameroon is the Okuyi, practiced by several Bantu ethnic groups. In this state, depending upon the region, drumming or instrumental rhythms played by respected musicians (each of which is unique to a given deity or ancestor), participants embody a deity or ancestor, energy or state of mind by performing distinct ritual movements or dances which further enhance their elevated consciousness.^[34]

When this trance-like state is witnessed and understood, adherents are privy to a way of contemplating the pure or symbolic embodiment of a particular mindset or frame of reference. This builds skills at separating the feelings elicited by this mindset from their situational manifestations in daily life. Such separation and subsequent contemplation of the nature and sources of pure energy or feelings serves to help participants manage and accept them when they arise in mundane contexts. This facilitates better control and transformation of these energies into positive, culturally appropriate behavior, thought, and speech. Also, this practice can give rise to those in these trances uttering words which, when interpreted by a culturally educated initiate or diviner, can provide insight into appropriate directions which the community (or individual) might take in accomplishing its goal.^[35]

Spirits[]

Followers of traditional African religions pray to various spirits as well as to their ancestors.^[36] This includes also nature, elementary and animal spirits. The difference between powerful spirits and gods is often minimal. Most African societies believe in several “high gods” and a large amount of lower gods and spirits. There are also some religions with a single supreme being (Chukwu, Nyame, Olodumare, Ngai, Roog, etc.).^[37] Some recognize a dual god and goddess such as Mawu-Lisa.^[38]

Traditional African religions generally believe in an afterlife, one or more Spirit worlds, and Ancestor worship is an important basic concept in mostly all African religions. Some African religions adopted different views through the influence of Islam or even Hinduism.^[39]

Practices and rituals[]

Bakongo masks from the Kongo Central

There are more similarities than differences in all traditional African religions.^[40] The deities and spirits are honored through libation or sacrifice (of animals, vegetables, cooked food, flowers, semi-precious stones and precious metals). The will of the gods or spirits is sought by the believer also through consultation of divinities or divination.^[41] Traditional African religions embrace natural phenomena – ebb and tide, waxing and waning moon, rain and drought – and the rhythmic pattern of agriculture. According to Gottlieb and Mbiti:

The environment and nature are infused in every aspect of traditional African religions and culture. This is largely because cosmology and beliefs are intricately intertwined with the natural phenomena and environment. All aspects of weather, thunder, lightning, rain, day, moon, sun, stars, and so on may become amenable to control through the cosmology of African people. Natural phenomena are responsible for providing people with their daily needs.^[42]

For example, in the Serer religion, one of the most sacred stars in the cosmos is called Yoonir (the Star of Sirius).^[43] With a long farming tradition, the Serer high priests and priestesses (Saltigue) deliver yearly sermons at the Xooy Ceremony (divination ceremony) in Fatick before Yoonir's phase in order to predict winter months and enable farmers to start planting.^[44]

Traditional healers are common in most areas, and their practices include a religious element to varying degrees.

Divination[]

Early-20th-century Yoruba divination board

Since Africa is a large continent with many ethnic groups and cultures, there is not one single technique of casting divination. The practice of casting may be done with small objects, such as bones, cowrie shells, stones, strips of leather, or flat pieces of wood.

Traditional healer of South Africa performing a divination by reading the bones

Some castings are done using sacred divination plates made of wood or performed on the ground (often within a circle).

In traditional African societies, many people seek out diviners on a regular basis. There are generally no prohibitions against the practice. Diviner (also known as priest) are also sought for their wisdom as counselors in life and for their knowledge of herbal medicine.

Virtue and vice[]

Virtue in traditional African religion is often connected with carrying out obligations of the communal aspect of life. Examples include social behaviors such as the respect for parents and elders, raising children appropriately, providing hospitality, and being honest, trustworthy, and courageous.

In some traditional African religions, morality is associated with obedience or disobedience to God regarding the way a person or a community lives. For the Kikuyu, according to their primary supreme creator, Ngai, acting through the lesser deities, is believed to speak to and be capable of guiding the virtuous person as one's conscience.

In many cases, Africans who have converted to other religions have still kept up their traditional customs and practices, combining them in a syncretic way.^[45]

Sacred places[]

Some sacred or holy locations for traditional religions include Nri-Igbo, the Point of Sangomar, Yaboyabo, Fatick, Ife, Oyo, Dahomey, Benin City, Ouidah, Nsukka, Kanem-Bornu, Igbo-Ukwu, and Tulwap Kipsigis, among others.

Demographics[]

Religious persecution[]

This section is an excerpt from Persecution of traditional African religion.[]

Part of a series on
Traditional African religions
show Doctrines Divination African divination Dogon astronomy (the star Sirius) Dogon astronomy (Nommo) Index of African mythology and creation narratives Philosophy Serer astronomy (the star Sirius)
show Deities Index of African deities List of African deities and mythical figures
show Sacred places Bandiagara Escarpment Benin City Dahomey Fatick Ifẹ Igbo-Ukwu Kanem–Bornu Mount Hombori Nri-Igbo Nsukka Ouidah Oyo Point of Sangomar Sangha Sangha Ogol Leye Sine Sine River Somb Tattaguine Tukar Yaboyabo Youga Dogorou
show Education Ndut Okuyi
show Priesthood Hogon Houngan Mambo Saltigue
show Relation with other religions African diaspora religions Persecution Persecution of Dogons Persecution of Serers Traditional African religion and other religions
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Traditional African religions have faced persecution from Christians and Muslims.^[46][47] Adherents of these religions have been forcefully converted to Islam and Christianity, demonized and marginalized.^[48] The atrocities include killings, waging war, destroying of sacred places, and other atrocities.^[49][50]

Traditions by region[]

This list is limited to a few well-known traditions.

Central Africa[]

• Bantu mythology (Central, Southeast, Southern Africa)
  • Bushongo mythology (Congo)
  • Kongo religion (Congo)
  • Lugbara mythology (Congo)
  • Baluba mythology (Congo)
  • Mbuti mythology (Congo)
• Dinka religion (South Sudan)
• Hausa animism (Chad, Gabon)
• Lotuko mythology (South Sudan)

East Africa[]

• Bantu mythology (Central, Southeast, Southern Africa)
  • Gikuyu mythology (Kenya)
  • Akamba mythology (Kenya)
• Maasai mythology (Kenya, Tanzania, Ouebian)
• Kalenjin mythology (Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania)
• Dini Ya Msambwa (Bungoma, Trans Nzoia, Kenya)

Horn of Africa[]

• Waaqeffanna (Oromia)
• Waaqism (Somali)

North Africa[]

• Ancient Egyptian religion (Egypt, Sudan)
  • Kemetism
• Punic religion (Tunisia, Algeria, Libya)
• Traditional Berber religion (Morocco (including Western Sahara), Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Chad, Burkina Faso)
• Hausa animism (Sudan)

Southern Africa[]

• Bantu mythology (Central, Southeast, Southern Africa)
  • Lozi mythology (Zambia)
  • Tumbuka mythology (Malawi)
  • Xhosa mythology (Southern Africa)
  • Zulu mythology (South Africa)
• San religion (South Africa)
• Traditional healers of South Africa
• Manjonjo Healers of Chitungwiza of Zimbabwe
• Indigenous religion in Zimbabwe

West Africa[]

• Abwoi religion (Nigeria)
• Akan religion (Ghana, Ivory Coast)
• Dahomean religion (Benin, Togo)
• Efik mythology (Nigeria, Cameroon)
• Edo religion (Benin kingdom, Nigeria)
• Hausa animism (Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Niger, Nigeria, Togo)
• Ijo traditional religion (Ijo people, Nigeria)
• Odinani (Igbo people, Nigeria)
• Asaase Yaa (Bono people (found mostly in Ghana), Ghana and Ivory Coast)
• Serer religion (A ƭat Roog) (Senegal, Gambia, Mauritania)
• Yoruba religion (Nigeria, Benin, Togo)
• West African Vodun (Ghana, Benin, Togo, Nigeria)
• Dogon religion (Mali)

African diaspora[]

• African diaspora religions

Notes[]

References[]

• Information presented here was gleaned from World Eras Encyclopaedia, Volume 10, edited by Pierre-Damien Mvuyekure (New York: Thomson-Gale, 2003), in particular pp. 275–314.
• Baldick, J (1997) Black God: The Afroasiatic Roots of the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Religions. New York: Syracuse University Press.
• Doumbia, A. & Doumbia, N (2004) The Way of the Elders: West African Spirituality & Tradition. Saint Paul, MN: Llewellyn Publications.
• Ehret, Christopher, (2002) The Civilizations of Africa: a History to 1800. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia.
• Ehret, Christopher, An African Classical Age: Eastern and Southern Africa in World History, 1000 B.C. to A.D. 400, page 159, University of Virginia Press, ISBN 0-8139-2057-4
• Karade, B (1994) The Handbook of Yoruba Religious Concepts. York Beach, MA: Samuel Weiser Inc.
• P'Bitek, Okot. African Religions and Western Scholarship. Kampala: East African Literature Bureau, 1970.
• Princeton Online, History of Africa
• Wiredu, Kwasi Toward Decolonizing African Philosophy And Religion in African Studies Quarterly, The Online Journal for African Studies, Volume 1, Issue 4, 1998

Further reading[]

• Encyclopedia of African Religion, - Molefi Asante, Sage Publications, 2009 ISBN 1412936365
• Abimbola, Wade (ed. and trans., 1977). Ifa Divination Poetry NOK, New York).
• Baldick, Julian (1997). Black God: the Afroasiatic roots of the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim religions. Syracuse University Press:ISBN 0-8156-0522-6
• Barnes, Sandra. Africa's Ogun: Old World and New (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1989).
• Beier, Ulli, ed. The Origins of Life and Death: African Creation Myths (London: Heinemann, 1966).
• Bowen, P.G. (1970). Sayings of the Ancient One - Wisdom from Ancient Africa. Theosophical Publishing House, U.S.
• Chidester, David. "Religions of South Africa" pp. 17–19
• Cole, Herbert Mbari. Art and Life among the Owerri Igbo (Bloomington: Indiana University press, 1982).
• Danquah, J. B., The Akan Doctrine of God: A Fragment of Gold Coast Ethics and Religion, second edition (London: Cass, 1968).
• Einstein, Carl. African Legends, First English Edition, Pandavia, Berlin 2021. ISBN 9783753155821
• Gbadagesin, Segun. African Philosophy: Traditional Yoruba Philosophy and Contemporary African Realities (New York: Peter Lang, 1999).
• Gleason, Judith. Oya, in Praise of an African Goddess (Harper Collins, 1992).
• Griaule, Marcel; Dietterlen, Germaine. Le Mythe Cosmogonique (Paris: Institut d'Ethnologie, 1965).
• Idowu, Bolaji, God in Yoruba Belief (Plainview: Original Publications, rev. and enlarged ed., 1995)
• LaGamma, Alisa (2000). Art and oracle: African art and rituals of divination. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. ISBN 978-0-87099-933-8. Archived from the original on 2013-05-10.
• Lugira, Aloysius Muzzanganda. African traditional religion. Infobase Publishing, 2009.
• Mbiti, John African Religions and Philosophy (1969) African Writers Series, Heinemann ISBN 0-435-89591-5
• Opoku, Kofi Asare (1978). West African Traditional Religion Kofi Asare Opoku | Publisher: FEP International Private Limited. ASIN: B0000EE0IT
• Parrinder, Geoffrey. African Traditional Religion, Third ed. (London: Sheldon Press, 1974). ISBN 0-85969-014-8 pbk.
• Parrinder, Geoffrey. "Traditional Religion", in his Africa's Three Religions, Second ed. (London: Sheldon Press, 1976, ISBN 0-85969-096-2), p. [15-96].
• Peavy, D., (2009)."Kings, Magic & Medicine". Raleigh, NC: SI.
• Peavy, D., (2016). The Benin Monarchy, Olokun & Iha Ominigbon. Umewaen: Journal of Benin & Edoid Studies: Osweego, NY.
• Popoola, S. Solagbade. Ikunle Abiyamo: It is on Bent Knees that I gave Birth (2007 Asefin Media Publication)
• Soyinka, Wole, Myth, Literature and the African World (Cambridge University Press, 1976).
• Alice Werner, Myths and Legends of the Bantu (1933). Available online at sacred-texts.com
• Umeasigbu, Rems Nna. The Way We Lived: Ibo Customs and Stories (London: Heinemann, 1969).

External links[]

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Traditional African religions

• Media related to Traditional African religions at Wikimedia Commons
• African Comparative Belief
• Afrika world.net A website with extensive links and information about traditional African religions^{[dead link]}
• Baba Alawoye.com Baba'Awo Awoyinfa Ifaloju, showcasing Ifa using web media 2.0 (blogs, podcasting, video & photocasting)^{[dead link]}
• culture-exchange.blog/animism-modern-africa An article explaining the parallels between traditional and modern religious practices in Africa