Portal:Traditional African religions

Welcome to the Traditional African religions portal

Introduction Local ceremony in Benin featuring a zangbeto. The beliefs and practices of African people are highly diverse, including various ethnic religions. Generally, these traditions are oral rather than scriptural and are passed down from one generation to another through folk tales, songs, and festivals, and include beliefs in spirits and higher and lower gods, sometimes including a supreme being, as well as the veneration of the dead, and use of magic and traditional African medicine. Most religions can be described as animistic with various polytheistic and pantheistic aspects. The role of humanity is generally seen as one of harmonizing nature with the supernatural. In the past, African religion used to be referred to as 'traditional' but this is no longer appropriate. 'Traditional' was used to distinguish Africa religion from Abrahamic religion which came to the continent as a result of proselytism. Colonialism supported the false view that Africa had no religion. (Full article...) Selected article 'Haitian Vodou, known commonly as Voodoo is a syncretic religion practiced chiefly in Haiti and the Haitian diaspora. Practitioners are called "vodouists" Vodouists believe in a distant and unknowable Supreme Creator, Bondye (derived from the French term Bon Dieu, meaning "good God"). According to Vodouists, Bondye does not intercede in human affairs, and thus they direct their worship toward spirits subservient to Bondye, called loa. Every loa is responsible for a particular aspect of life, with the dynamic and changing personalities of each loa reflecting the many possibilities inherent to the aspects of life over which they preside. To navigate daily life, vodouists cultivate personal relationships with the loa through the presentation of offerings, the creation of personal altars and devotional objects, and participation in elaborate ceremonies of music, dance, and spirit possession. Vodou originated in what is now Benin and developed in the French colonial empire in the 18th century among West African peoples who were enslaved, when African religious practice was actively suppressed, and enslaved Africans were forced to convert to Christianity. Religious practices of contemporary Vodou are descended from, and closely related to, West African Vodun as practiced by the Fon and Ewe. Vodou also incorporates elements and symbolism from other African peoples including the Yoruba and Kongo; as well as Taíno religious beliefs, Roman Catholicism, and European spirituality including mysticism and other influences. Selected images Bakongo masks from the Kongo Central. In traditional African religions, masks play an important part in many ritual ceremonies. Credit: Ndoto ya Afrika For more about this picture, see Practices and rituals in traditional African religions, Traditional African masks, African art and African sculpture. Serer representation of the universe. The three worlds : the invisible world, the terrestrial world and the nocturnal world. Credit: Henry Gravrand - La civilisation sereer : Pangool For more about this picture, see Serer creation myth and Serer religion (A ƭat Roog). The star Yoonir, symbol of the Universe in Serer religion and Cosmogony. The peak of the star (top point) represents the Supreme Deity (Roog). The other four points represent the cardinal points of the Universe. The crossing of the lines ("bottom left" and "top right", and "top left" and "bottom right") pinpoints the axis of the Universe that all energies pass. The top point is "the point of departure and conclusion, the origin and the end". Among the Serers who cannot read or write the Latin alphabet, it is very common for them to sign official documents with the star of Yoonir, as the star also represents "good fortune and destiny". Yoonir also represents the Serer people and the Serer precolonial Kingdom of Sine. Credits: Sarang, AnonMoos, (and Yoonir file by Tamsier) For more about the pentagram in Serer spirituality, see Yoonir in Serer religion and Serer creation myth. Vodun altar with several fetishes in Abomey, Benin (West Africa). Credit: Dominik Schwarz More about this picture on West African Vodun... The Mbot mask. Symbol of the Serer peoples' Ndut initiation rite. Credit: Tamsier More about the Ndut rite of passage.... Traditional healer of South Africa performing a divination by reading the bones. Credit: User:FastilyClone (Fastily) For more about this picture, see Divination in Traditional African religions and African divination An early-20th-century Igbo medicine man in Nigeria, West Africa. Credit: Ukabia For more about this picture, see Divination in Traditional African Religions, African divination, Traditional African medicine and Igbo religion. An early 20th century Yoruba divination board. Credit: Tamsier For more about this picture, see Divination in Traditional African religions and African divination An Igbo Ukwu bronze ceremonial vessel made around the 9th century AD. Credit: Ukabia More about this picture on Archaeology of Igbo-Ukwu... The gods Osiris, Anubis and Horus, in order from left to right, painted inside the tomb of pharaoh Horemheb. Credit: A. Parrot For more about this picture, see Ancient Egyptian deities and Ancient Egyptian religion. The Senegambian stone circles (Wassu section) believed by archaeologists and historians to be built by the Serer people of the Senegambia region. The Senegambia stone circles are the largest concentration of stone circles seen anywhere in the world according to UNESCO. They are sacred burial grounds and a place of ritual offerings (kuur in Serer). Credit: Atamari For more about this picture, see Senegambian stone circles, Mummification and Cult of the Upright Stones in Serer religion, and Serer ancient history. Festivals There are several religious festivals found in the various Traditional African religions. Some of these are listed below next to their corresponding religion : Afro-Cuban religion : Plantes Dogon religion : Bulo — Sigi — Dama — Bado — Bago — Gogo Igbo religion : Ekpe festivals — New Yam Festival of the Igbo — The Iwa ji festival Jamaican Maroon religion : Kumina — Kromanti dance Jola : Kumpo — Niasse — Samay San religion : Healing dances Serer religion : Daqaar mboob — Diouck — Gamo — Jobai — Khanghere — Mindisse — Mbosseh (or mboosé) — Mboudaye — Ndut — Randou Rande — Raan (held at Tukar, see also Saltigue) — Sam Southieh — The consultation at Ngalagne — The massacre of Cadde — The royal struggle — The session struggle at Ndiaye-Ndiaye — The session struggle Jiloor (Jijaak) — Tobaski — Tourou Peithie — Xoy (main Xoy held at Fatick) Yoruba religion : Odun Egungun — The Yoruba calendar (the year in festivals) Selected biography Father Henry Gravrand (France, 1921 - Abbey of Latrun, Palestine, 11 July 2003) was a French Catholic missionary to Africa and an anthropologist who has written extensively on Serer religion and culture. He was one of the leading pioneers of interfaith dialog and believed that Traditional African religion was the "first covenant between God and man". Selected quote “ In Africa, the traditional religions are fast being replaced by Christianity and Islam precisely because they have no organization which can prepare a strategy of self-defense. African traditionalists are not denounced as 'semitized fundamentalists' because in effect, they submit to the liquidation of their tradition by mass conversions....It is hard to find fault with this observation.... Ram Swarup analyzes the political intention behind laudatory labels like 'tolerant' and hate labels like 'Semitic'. He too points to Africa as an instance of what to avoid: 'The African continent has been under the attack of the two monolatrous religions, Christianity and Islam, for centuries. Under this attack, it has already lost much of its old culture. .... Some time ago, there was an article in the London Economist praising it for taking this attack with such pagan tolerance.... ” Ram Swarup quoted in Koenraad Elst (2002) Source: Swarup, Ram [in] Elst, Koenraad, Who is a Hindu? : Hindu Revivalist Views of Animism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and Other Offshoots of Hinduism, Voice of India (2002), p. 72, ISBN 9788185990743 Did you know ...that the organizers of FESTIMA, a festival in Burkina Faso celebrating traditional African masks, estimate that 100,000 people attended in 2016? Related portals All Africa-related portals Topics For more Traditional African religion topics, see Category:Traditional African religions. Categories Category puzzle Select [►] to view subcategories Traditional African religions African art African shamanism African witchcraft Akan religion Ancient Egyptian religion African deities Dogon religion Edo religion Films about traditional African religions Jola religion Kongo religion African mythology Names of God in African traditional religions Sacred sites in traditional African religions Serer religion Traditional African religions portal West African Vodun Yoruba religion Traditional African religions stubs WikiProjects Africa Religion Spirituality Things you can do Associated Wikimedia The following Wikimedia Foundation sister projects provide more on this subject: Commons Free media repository Wikibooks Free textbooks and manuals Wikidata Free knowledge base Wikinews Free-content news Wikiquote Collection of quotations Wikisource Free-content library Wikiversity Free learning tools Wiktionary Dictionary and thesaurus Discover Wikipedia using portals List of all portals The arts portal Biography portal Current events portal Geography portal History portal Mathematics portal Science portal Society portal Technology portal Random portal WikiProject Portals