African dance occupies central place in cultures throughout the African continent, embodying energy and a graceful beauty flowing with rhythm. Myth: Slavery is a product of Western civilization. Another crucial aspect to consider in the comparative study of African religions is the reality of the transfer of these religions across the Atlantic through the Middle Passage and transnational migration and cultural exchange. This statement isnt true. Religions such as Candombl, Vodun, Santeria, and the Caribbean and Orisa tradition historically came about from African transactions with the new world and the old Euro-Christian worldview. Even in areas of Zimbabwe with easy access to Western-type delivery care, the majority of women are cared for and delivered by traditional birth attendants who are members of their extended family. They provide the orientation for the human life journey by defining the rites of passage from life to death. These narratives come to us in the form of myths. Unlike its popular usage, in scholarly language myths are sacred stories believed to be true by those who hold on to them. Fact: One-third of Moroccans and one-quarter of Algerians do not speak Arabic as their first language. . These countries are often very hot. 14. These are also stories about how the world was put into place by a divine power, usually a supreme god, but in collaboration with other lesser supernatural beings or deities, who act on his behalf or aid in the creative process.11 The mechanisms and techniques of creation vary from story to story and from one tradition to another. This article is an edited version of remarks he delivered for the annual Surjit Singh Lecture in Comparative Religious Thought and Culture at the Graduate Theological Union on April28, 2020. Symbolic and mythic narratives may exist side by side with narratives of legends in history that bear similar characteristics with motifs and events of creation or coming to birth. Ritual practices are central to the performance of African religion. Robert N. Bellah, Civil Religion in America,, Jacob K. Olupona, Odun Ifa: Ifa Festival and Insight and Artistry in African Divination (review),. African Traditional Religion: An Examination of Terminologies Used for Describing the Indigenous Faith of African People, Using an Afrocentric Paradigm by Nana Osei Bonsu, B.Ed. 12. The debate regarding the continuity between African traditional religion and Christianity has been raging since the early 19th century. Women constitute a sizable number of the devotees of these traditions, just as they do in Islam and Christianity. African identity and culture are preserved in African Traditional Religion. Introduction. Ironically, this pivotal source of knowledge and spiritual edificethat modern-day Yoruba reject as constituting paganismis the cornerstone of global Orisa traditions in Brazil, Cuba, and the Caribbean. Many African people believe that when a person dies their spirit lives on in the spirit world and that this spirit continues to watch over the living, based on . Religious contexts are shaped and determined by the identity of these religions. Due to the centrality of ancestral tradition to the African lifeworld, death itself is a significant transition from the current life to the afterlife and marks a continuity in life for those living and those to come. Through their mixing, a new kind of religion emerged, forming the basis for what we have come to know as African diaspora religion. One of my favorite Ifa narratives acknowledges to Yoruba Muslims that climbing Mount Arafat was the most significant act of the hajj. As scholars of the comparative study of religions in Africa, we must begin to rethink the study of African religion in the twenty-first century in order to avoid the continuous mis-assessment of the resilience of indigenous traditions. These stages characterized European perceptions of human evolution. Your email address will not be published. Each has a life force but no concrete physical form. See Luc De Heusch, What Shall We Do with the Drunken King?,. The culture believes and traditions of the people of Africa is vast and should not be oversimplified in a stereotypical way. Unique Beliefs, and Too Many Misconceptions Traditional native sweat lodge with hot stones inside . Here Are the Top Ten African Volunteer Programs, 9 Traditional African Music Instruments And Their Origin, 8 Traditional African Sports That Should Be In the Olympics, economic forecasts predict the rapid growth in the African Market, 10 Traditional African Hairstyles And Their Origin. Therefore for these people, twins were treasures. There are female priestesses, diviners, and other figures, and many feminist scholars have drawn from these traditions to advocate for womens rights and the place of the feminine in African societies. Portia Zvavahera, His Presence, 2013, oil-based printing ink on paper. Scholarship has since proved, however, that the tenacity of indigenous religion is evident in all spheres of African life. 2,269. A proper ongoing study of Ifa in West Africa would enable us to understand how one groupthe Yoruba of West Africaencounters transcendence and the sacred in practicing their tradition in ways radically different from Western constructions of religion. The first encounters are fascinating. Post-colonial Africa is yet to be completely free from the mental slavery and stereotype created by the colonial masters. Thank you for this interesting essay on African religion. Inasmuch as androcentric authority is more prominent within social structures and systems and patriarchy is more pronounced in the social order, women are considered the cornerstone of the African family system.19 The African mother is a vibrant life force, central to African religious understandings of the interrelatedness between the human and the divine, as she embodies the production and sustaining of life. Header Photo:Traditional African Necklace Photo: Wikimedia Commons, Copyright 2016-2022, The Interfaith Observer | Site by FaithlabTIO is part of the Religica Theolab inside the Center for Ecumenical and Interreligious Engagement (CEIE) at Seattle University, Donna Bollinger Tapped to Lead Religions for Peace-USA, Interfaith Themes in Sub-Saharan African Tales (for Kids), Interreligious Literacy and Why It Matters, Religious Literacy & the Flying Spaghetti Monster, Thou Shalt Not Hate: The Role of Religious Actors in Addressing Hate Speech, When Wiccans & Evangelical Christians Become Friends, The Interfaith Rainforest Initiative: A Case Study of Religious Literacy, The Chinese Jews of Kaifeng (and what Ive learned from them), Reimagining Interfaith: Taking Our Lead from Kids. One could argue that colonization began with mental slavery. Africa is not homogenous. All Religions has truth hidden in them for those who objectively seek them through the path of the religion. b. certain clan outsiders. A porous border exists between the human realm and the sky, which belongs to the gods. God is the first Initiator of a people's way of Life, its tradition. This is a testament to the strong morals and principles of the African tradition. Human spirits represent people who have died, usually ancestors, in the recent or distant past.5 Third, the world of the ancestors occupies a large part of African cosmology. Perhaps this is linked to the idea that Africa has an inadequate or substandard health care system. African people do not worship their deceased relatives or ancestors. African religions are, therefore, a praxis, and this is where the focus of study should mostly be directed. Prior to colonization, there was scarcely any form of writing in the majority of African tribes and cultures. Similarly, indigenous religion, worldviews, and rituals such as rites of passage and other religious performances are permeated by other religions, culture, and society in general. Because of this, rituals were done to prevent the birth of twins which the people believed to be an anomaly. The most common African history begins with the colonial era. African Traditional Religion and medicine are integral parts of life and culture of the Africans and have greatly influenced their conceptions about human health and wholeness. Its almost as if pre-colonial Africa never existed. There is a common saying in Africa Dont forget where you come from. I did ancestry and, This is the genuine list of best African president. The battle between the African traditional religion and western civilization has been raging on for years. Similarly, although ancestors dwell inside the earth, their activities also interject into human life, which is why they are referred to as the living dead.13 African cosmologies, therefore, portray the universe as a fluid, active, and impressionable space, with agents from each realm bearing the capabilities of traveling from one realm to another at will. I ran into a co-resident, a famous Swiss author. A common stereotype about Africa is that the continent is poverty-stricken, full of corruption, and always at war. Also, about 30 % of the earths remaining mineral resources are in Africa. African religions have also become a major attraction for those in the diaspora who travel to Africa on pilgrimages because of the global reach of these traditions. They are known as upstanding citizens and have been entrusted with sensitive positions in society. Traditional African religion has common themes such as a Creator or High God, positive ancestor influences as well as tricksters, and an afterlife with spirit worlds. In African traditional religions guidance is provided through myths, which are handed down orally. But this was not an African thing. there is a diversity of religion in Africa; rather, it is the extent of that diversity and the degree to which the term 'African traditional religion' might misleadingly mask both that extent and the mutability of the forms it encompasses. An example is the Ancient Benin Kingdom, known for its impressive artwork which is now scattered across the world. As a lived religion, African tradition deploys through its ritual processesparticularly rites of passage, calendrical rituals, and divinatory practicestangible material and nonmaterial phenomena to regulate life events and occurrences, in order to ensure communal well-being. They certainly represent interpretive traditions, and, when carefully studied, they form a solid foundation for theoretical frameworks used to study and decode these religions in our scholarship. 15. European theorists are important, and we need to know and understand them to engage in serious global cultural dialogue, but this does not mean that we should discard our traditions as noninterpretive traditions limited merely to ethnographic illustrations. When Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code was released, it generated both curiosity and criticism for its portrayal of Christianity. The colonial masters sold the idea that the long-held tradition and believes of the African people is savage, inferior, and primitive. Most importantly, the rite itself should not be condemned together with circumcision or female genital mutilation. Majority of countries on the continent are . Africa is a continent that is made up of 54 countries, 1.3 billion inhabitants, more than 3000 ethnic groups, and 2100 unique languages. Africa is poor. For African-American parents, transmitting an awareness of cultural values and norms . One of these errors is description of African Religion as African traditional religion' which connote a derogatory epithets: paganism, idolatry, primitive religion, animism, fetishism polytheism, etc (Omoregbe, 1993). Given our current impending ecological crisis, indigenous African religions have a great deal to offer both African countries and the world at large. In my view, these common misconceptions are due to ill representation of the African culture. The more modern incarnation of this ancient African religionVoodooemerged as a unique blend of Catholic and African magical and religious rites. Courtesy of Stevenson, Amsterdam/Cape Town/Johannesburg. Little wonder John Mbiti, a famous African theologian said, Wherever the African is, there is his religion. The ability of the Black community to call on the spirits and ways of its ancestors is crucial to its continu This corrective scholarship and critical intervention helped to redefine African worldviews and spirituality and, as such, showed how African religion is pivotal to the individual and communal existence of the people. If you would like to change your settings or withdraw consent at any time, the link to do so is in our privacy policy accessible from our home page.. Truly opening my eyes on traditions, cultures and rituals that I did not know existed. Based on sacred narratives, these traditions espoused their unique worldviews, defining cosmologies, ritual practices, sociopolitical frameworks, and ethical standards, as well as social and personal identity. The Mursi religion is classified as Animism. 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