There are myths that say the world was created out of an existing abyss or a watery universe uninhabited by animate beings. Only the father can perform the biang ndu, which is witnessed by family members and neighbors. An example is the northern Yatenga society (of western Africa). Family members must adhere to specific roles, privileges, and rights. Athens, Ohio: Ohio University Press, 1979. ." African cosmogonic narratives explain how the world was put into place by a divine personality, usually the Supreme God in collaboration with lesser supernatural beings who act on his behalf or aid in the creative process. New forms of Yoruba religion have been emerging that are quite different from the Yoruba orisa traditions in Nigeria. A twin in Yoruba culture is forbidden to eat the meat of the colobus monkey, because the Yoruba believe that twins have kinship relationships with them. This is because he occupies the realm beyond the physical abode of humans and thus remains outside their immediate influence. But before those two religions arrived, there were several traditional religions practiced. They reward good deeds and punish bad deeds. Muslim and European colonial traders, travelers, slavers, missionaries, military personnel, mercenaries, and administrators frequently recorded naive accounts of African cultural customs, traditions, and religions. Early scholars viewed African indigenous religions as "primitive," comparing them adversely with European Christian beliefs. One of the foremost of these is Wande Abimbola (born in 1936), who in 1987 was selected by the elder babalawos in Nigeria to be the awise awo agbaye (chief spokesperson of Ifa and Yoruba religion and culture). Some African societies have creation myths that correlate with their social and political organization. Offerings may be done for purification, for protection from adverse forces, and for divination. (Worship of the vodun is the original source of the Haitian religion of Vodou, which emerged as a syncretism of African, Roman Catholic, and Caribbean religious traditions by African slaves in Haiti.) 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. According to oral literature, the practice of Ifa originated as far back as eight thousand years ago. female circumcision, polygamy, and approaches to gender relations—as peculiar compared with Western cultural practices. Within the “Cite this article” tool, pick a style to see how all available information looks when formatted according to that style. If the living maintain a cordial relationship with the ancestors, one of the spirits returns to be reborn into the lineage. Westerners deemed Africans incapable of producing such ideas and objects. The initiated are priests and priestesses and may hold titles within the cult. Graves play a more important religious role for farming communities than for pastoralists, who are constantly moving from one place to another. African Traditional Religion: A De nition (1973), Omosade . New York: Praeger, 1963. An injured toe means that a visit will be dreadful. Genevieve Slomski A nightmare indicates the coming of an unpleasant event. At times supreme gods are understood to be females and males who complement each other as husband and wife or brother and sister, similar to Mawu-Lisa in the religion of the Fon of Benin. Because the gods and ancestors created the society's ideals, people are highly reluctant to stray from them. The beliefs and practices of the traditional religions in Africa can enrich Christian theology and spirituality." In some other groups notions of ancestors are more expansive and may include various categories of human spirits; in others ancestors include spirits of deceased children. This myth gives credence to the importance of the underworld as the sphere that nourishes human life. INTRODUCTION TO AFRICAN TRADITIONAL RELIGION Welcome to the summary lecture of African Traditional Religions. Certain sacred children may also become ancestors. There is no standard or widespread characteristic of ancestorhood, but the criteria used throughout Africa share similarities. Thus these religions are continually evolving. London: S.C.M. They are used only for ceremonies, rituals, prayers, and sacrifices. These deities consume no other foods, except perhaps kola nuts, a standard ritual ingredient in many African cultures. In West Africa colleges gained autonomy during the struggle for independence in the 1960s. While other traditional African societies may possess fewer elaborate details of reincarnation, several of them hold the view that ancestors are born into their lineage. 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. Africans are a deeply spiritual people. In possession divination a spirit possesses the diviner or sacred objects. Religion provides the basis for community and not only is a religious need but a religious obligation. Female and male circumcisions are often a part, but not the focus, of initiation rites. In the African traditional religions, the main beliefs are, God, the divinities, spirits and ancestors. © 2019 Encyclopedia.com | All rights reserved. Specific deities are ordained by the Supreme God as custodians of rectitude. Because indigenous societies are mainly nonliterate, oral traditions expressed in poetry, proverbs, and mythic narratives are sources of African literary traditions. African Traditional Religion is now widely taught in African universities, but its identity remains essentially negative: African belief that is not Christianity or Islam. The story conveys the division and crisis between two generations; through sacrifice, order is restored. In Nigeria, Ghana, and other parts of West Africa, for instance, village and town associations meet for purposes of economic unity and social development. By contacting the supernatural realm of spirits, gods, ancestors, or other divine beings, the diviner attains a state of possession or shamanic trance, usually through dancing and other ritual performance. Competing indigenous religions may incorporate useful or similar aspects of each other. Then there are priests and holy persons, who are intermediaries between the seen (the living) and the unseen worlds. Breaking the laws of the community offends the ancestors, who may wreak disaster upon the offender and community as well. Furthermore, African cultural practices contain elements of indigenous religion. A new wave of conversion to indigenous African traditions has been noticeable in the United States, especially among African Americans. In the 1940s Africans entered into the scholarly discourse on African indigenous religions. People express their belief in Supreme Being locally referred to as Nyogmo, Mawu, and Nyame. African Traditional Religion is a huge part of its believers’ culture; it’s one of the main parts of culture in Africa. Binding the couple is accompanied by exchanging gifts, which is largely a way of thanking the parents of the bride or groom for bringing up their child in a good manner. For indigenous African peoples "history" often refers to accounts of events as narrated in stories, myths, legends, and songs. In modern African societies, such as that of the Zulu of South Africa, the king's roles as ruler, judge, and ritual specialist are often critical in maintaining a functioning society. Spirits are the connection between the living and the invisible worlds. They are based on seasonal availability and environmental, social, cultural, and religious differences. There is also a class of innumerable spiritual beings who may be good, mischievous or evil. Numerous scholars in diverse fields of interest carry out studies of African religions. Rites of passage are particularly important in the religious use of arts. Unlike Christianity and African traditional religion, Christianity and fundamentalist Islam has greatly affected the role of indigenous African.! Time two main schools of thought prevailed who can preserve one 's immortality during divination.. 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