African traditional religion

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Main article: Religion in Africa
African traditional women and male priests, Togo, West Africa, 2006.
African traditional women and male priests, Togo, West Africa, 2006.

African traditional religion, otherwise referred to as African indigenous religion, encompasses cultural, religious, and spiritual manifestations indigenous to the continent of Africa. There is a multitude of religions within this category. Traditional African religions involve teachings, practices, and rituals that lend structure to African native societies. Traditional African societies reflect local conceptions of God(s) and the cosmos. Even within a single community there may be slightly different perceptions of the supernatural.

African traditionalists almost always acknowledge the existence of a high God or demiurge who created the universe (Ifa, Olorun, etc). Many traditional African stories speak of how God or God's son once lived among the people, but, when humans did something to give offense to God, the divine withdrew to the heavens.

African religious traditions are defined largely along tribal and ethnic lines, with the West African Yoruba religion being the most influential.

Contents

[edit] Classification and statistics

Adherents.com (as of 2007) lists "African Traditional & Diasporic" as a "major religious group", estimating some 100 million adherents. They justify this combined listing of traditional African and African diasporic religions, and the separation from the generic "primal-indigenous" category by pointing out that

the "primal-indigenous" religions are primarily tribal and composed of pre-technological peoples. While there is certainly overlap between this category and non-African primal-indigenous religious adherents, there are reasons for separating the two, best illustrated by focusing specifically on Yoruba, which is probably the largest African traditional religious/tribal complex. Yoruba was the religion of the vast Yoruba nation states which existed before European colonialism and its practitioners today; certainly those in the Caribbean, South America and the U.S.; are integrated into a technological, industrial society, yet still proclaim affiliation to this African-based religious system. Cohesive rituals, beliefs and organization were spread throughout the world of Yoruba (and other major African religious/tribal groups such as Fon), to an extent characteristic of nations and many organized religions, not simply tribes. (Major Religions Ranked by Size)

Practitioners of traditional religions in sub-Saharan Africa are distributed among 43 countries, and are estimated to number about 70 million, or 12% of African population, while the largest religions in Africa are Christianity and Islam, accounting for 45% and 40%, respectively. As everywhere, adherence to an organized religion does not preclude a residue of folk religion in which traditions predating Christianization or Islamisation survive.

[edit] Deities

Main article: African deities

Monotheism and henotheism are widespread among the African traditional religions,[citation needed] and there are also polytheism and animism. Many indigenous African societies worship a single God (Chukwu, Nyame, Olodumare, Ngai etc.), and some recognize a dual or complementary twin God such as Mawu-Lisa. This they do by paying obeisance to the God through lesser deities (Ogoun, Da, Agwu, Esu, Mbari, etc.). Some societies also deify entities like the earth, the sun, the sea, lightning, or Nature. Each deity has its own priest or priestess.[citation needed] The Ndebele and Shona ethnic groups of Zimbabwe have a trinity - a fundamental family group - made up of God the Father, God the Mother, and God the Son, as a conception of false gods. Among the Fon of West Africa and Benin, God, who is called "Vondu", is androgynous, with both male and female traits.

The Ewe people of southern Ghana have a conception of the high God as a female-male partnership. Mawu who is female is often spoken of as gentle and forgiving. Lisa who is male renders judgment and punishes. Among the Ewe it is believed that when Lisa punishes, Mawu may grant forgiveness. Here we see the complementarity or "supplementarity" (Derrida's term) of male and female that characterizes many of the traditional African religions.

The only example in Africa of a female high Goddess is among the Southern Nuba of Sudan, whose culture has matriarchal traits. The Nuba conceive of the creator Goddess as the "Great Mother" who gave birth to earth and to mankind. (Mbiti, J.S., Introduction to African Religion, Oxford, 1975, p. 53.)

[edit] Practices and Rituals

Usually, all African traditional religions are considered to be similar by Western people, and are often described as not unlike traditional (pre-Vedic, Vedic, and pre-Abrahamic) religions in most cultures (e.g., Indian, Greek, etc.). Often, God is worshiped through consultation or communion with lesser deities and ancestral spirits. The deities and spirits are honored through libation, sacrifice (of animals, vegetables, or precious metals) and, in some cases, trokosi. The will of God is sought by the believer also through consultation of oracular deities, or divination. In many African traditional religions, there is a belief in a cyclical nature of reality. The living stand between their ancestors and the unborn. Like various other traditional religions, African traditional religions embrace natural phenomena - ebb and tide, waxing and waning moon, rain and drought - and the rhythmic pattern of agriculture. These religions are also not static, not even within their consciousness of natural rhythms. They incorporate the ever-changing actual experience. For example, Sango, the Yoruba god of lightning, assumes responsibility for modern electrical processes. But, these characteristics are only true of some of the traditional African religions.

However, in truth, the commonalities of African religions are as follows:

- Belief in a Supreme Being, or Creator, which is referred to by a myriad of names in various languages - No belief in heaven, hell, purgatory, or anything of the like - No tangible reinforcements - i.e. holy texts, prophets, temples, etc - No prophets - Correspond with the higher being in times of great need - i.e. natural calamities, unexplained deaths - Have a devout connection with their ancestors African tribal religion was african tribes conectiing with their inner beings

In addition to these things, African religion does not require rigorous training for their children in their years of maturation. This made it impossible for the missionaries of earlier times to contrast their religion with Christianity, leading them to believe that African religion was either "invisible" or nonexistent.

In reference to the African traditionalist view of the "afterlife," they don't believe in one, per se.

The African equivalent to going to heaven is being remembered by the living during ceremonies while going to hell or purgatory would be the equivalent of being completely forgotten.

[edit] Duality of self and gods

Most indigenous African religions have a dualistic concept of the person. In the Igbo language, a person is said to be composed of a body and a soul. In the Yoruba language, however, there seems to be a tripartite concept: in addition to body and soul, there is said to exist a "spirit" or an ori, an independent entity that mediates or otherwise interacts between the body and the soul.

Some religious systems have a specific devil-like figure (for example, Ekwensu) who is believed to be the opposite of God.

[edit] Virtue and vice

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

In some ATRs, morality is associated with obedience or disobedience to God regarding the way a person or a community lives. For the Kikuyu, according to Mbiti, God, acting through the lesser deities, is believed to speak to and be capable of guiding the virtuous person as one's "conscience." But so could the Devil and the messengers. In indigenous African religions, such as the Azande religion, a person is said to have a good or bad conscience depending on whether he does the bidding of the God or the Devil.

[edit] Religious offices

African indigenous religions, like most indigenous religions, do not have a named and known founder, nor a sacred scripture. Often, such religions are oral traditions.

[edit] Priest

In some societies, there are intermediaries between individuals or whole communities and specific deities. Variously called Dibia, Babalawo, etc., the priest usually presides at the altar of a particular deity.

[edit] Healer

Practice of medicine is an important part of indigenous religion. Priests are reputed to have professional knowledge of illness (pathology), surgery, and pharmacology (roots, barks, leaves and herbs). Some of them are also reputed to diagnose and treat mental and psychological problems.

[edit] Rainmaker

They are believed to be capable of bringing about or stopping rain, by manipulating the environment meteorologically (e.g., by burning particular kinds of woods or otherwise attempting to influence movement of clouds).

[edit] Holy places and headquarters of religious activities

While there are human made places (altars, shrines, temples, tombs), very often sacred space is located in nature (trees, groves, rocks, hills, mountains, caves, etc.).

These are some of the important centers of religious life: Nri-Igbo, Ile-Ife, Oyo, Dahomey, Benin, Uida, Nsukka, Akan, Kanem-Bornu, Mali, and Igbo-Ukwu.

[edit] Liturgy and rituals

Rituals often occur according to the life cycle of the year. There are herding and hunting rituals as well as those marking the rhythm of agriculture and of human life. There are craft rituals, such as in smithing. There are rituals on building new homes, on the assumption of leadership, etc.

[edit] Individuality

Each deity has an its own rituals, including choice objects of sacrifice; preference for male or female priest-officer; time of day, week, month, or year to make required sacrifice; or specific costumes for priest and supplicant on ritual occasions.

[edit] Patronage

Some deities are perpetual patrons of specific trades and guilds. For example, in Haitian Vodou, Ogoun, the deity of metal, is patron of all professions that use metals as primary material of craft.

[edit] Libation

The living often honor ancestors by pouring a libation (paying homage), and thus giving them the first "taste" of a drink before the living consume it.

[edit] Magic, witchcraft, and sorcery

These are important, different but related, parts of beliefs about interactions between the natural and the supernatural, seen and unseen, worlds. Magicians, witches, and sorcerers are said to have the skills to bring about or manipulate the relations between the two worlds. Abuse of this ability is widely condemned. Magic, witchcraft, and sorcery are parts of many indigenous religions.

[edit] Secret societies

They are important part of indigenous religion. Among traditional secret societies are hunting societies whose members are taught not only the physical methods, but also respect for the spiritual aspect of the hunt and use of honorable magical means to obtain important co-operation from the animal hunted.

Members are supposed to have been initiated into, and thus have access to, occultic powers hidden to non-members. Well known secret societies are Egbo, Nsibidi, Mau Mau, Ogboni, Sangbeto, etc.

[edit] Possession

Some spirits and deities are believed to "mount" some of their priests during special rituals. The possessed goes into a trance-like state, sometimes accompanied by speaking in "tongues" (i.e., uttering messages from the spirit that need to be interpreted to the audience). Possession is usually induced by drumming and dancing.

[edit] Religious persecution

Adherents of African traditional religions had been persecuted, e.g. practitioners of the Bwiti religion by missionaries and Gabon authorities prior to 1960.[citation needed]

[edit] Mythology

Many indigenous religions, like most religions, have elaborate stories that explain how the world was created, how culture and civilization came about, or what happens when a person dies. Other mythologies are meant to explain or enforce social conventions on issues relating to age, gender, class, or religious rituals. Myths are popular methods of education: they communicate religious knowledge and morality while amusing or frightening those who hear or read them. Examples of religions with elaborates mythologies include the native religion of the Yoruba people, see Yoruba mythology.

[edit] See also

West Africa
Central Africa
East Africa
Southern Africa

[edit] External links

  • Baba Alawoye.com Baba'Awo Awoyinfa Ifaloju, showcasing Ifa using web media 2.0 (blogs, podcasting, video & photocasting)

[edit] Sources

  • 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.

[edit] Further reading

  • Mbiti, John [1969] (1990). African Religions and Philosophy. African Writers Series, Heinemann. ISBN 0-435-89591-5. 
  • Wade Abimbola, ed. and trans. Ifa Divination Poerty (New York: NOK, 1977).
  • Ulli Beier, ed. The Origins of Life and Death: African Creation Myths (London: Heinemann, 1966).
  • Herbert Cole, Mbari: Art and Life among the Owerri Igbo (Bloomington: Indiana University press, 1982).
  • J. B. Danquah, The Akan Doctrine of God: A Fragment of Gold Coast Ethics and Religion, second edition (London: Cass, 1968).
  • Marcel Griaule and Germaine Dietterlen, Le Mythe Cosmogonique (Paris: Institut d'Ethnologie, 1965).
  • Rems Nna Umeasigbu, The Way We Lived: Ibo Customs and Stories (London: Heinemann, 1969).
  • Sandra Barnes, Africa's Ogun: Old World and New (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1989).
  • Segun Gbadagesin, African Philosophy: Traditional Yoruba Philosophy and Conteporary African Realities (New York: Peter Lang, 1999).
  • Judith Gleason, Oya, in Praise of an African Goddess (Harper Collins, 1992).
  • Bolaji Idowu, God in Yoruba Belief (Plainview: Original Publications, rev. and enlarged ed., 1995)
  • Wole Soyinka, Myth, Literature and the African World (Cambridge University Press, 1976).
  • S. Solagbade Popoola, Ikunle Abiyamo: It is on Bent Knees that I gave Birth (2007 Asefin Media Publication)


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