The story is the same in the political sphere. 10. Consequently, despite all of Christianity and Islams claims to dominance and their propagandist machinery in demonizing indigenous religion, African religion still provides significant meaning to African existence in many ways. Please follow our Commentary Guidelines when engaging in discussion on this site. In my research into Ifa narratives, I showed how, in the Ifa worldview, a traditional banking system was created and made possible when Aje, a Yoruba goddess of wealth, visited Orunmila, god of divination, to seek tips on how to keep robbers from stealing her spurious wealth, for which the added task of securing it was becoming quite burdensome. 7, The Spirits, in his, One must resist the structuralist temptation that views myths as static, unchanging, and simply the productions of a peoples imagination about the cosmic order. 3. Loosely, it encompasses all African beliefs and practices that are considered religious but neither Christian nor Islamic. It is practiced around the world but there is no accurate count of how many people are Voodooists. According to theologian Tony Evans, W. E. B. In these times of intense turmoil, people of African descent are facing serious threats and challenges to their well-being. The majority of Africans are hardworking and honest people. Africa is not homogenous. Portia Zvavahera, Cosmic Prayer, 2019, oil-based printing ink and oil bar on canvas. A frica has 54 countries and more than a billion people. 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. A porous border exists between the human realm and the sky, which belongs to the gods. inadequacies, objections and misconceptions, the practice has come to stay. Photo: Pinterest. So it is the responsibility of the religious leaders in these . In many African countries a range of beliefs and attitudes underpin these alternative explanations. Indigenous African religions are not based on conversion like Islam and Christianity. More so, myths encode the traditional settings of the African and their belief system. Traditional African religions are not stagnant but highly dynamic and constantly reacting to various shifting influences such as old age, modernity, and technological advances. War in Africa, either political or religious is mostly isolated cases. Many foreigners who come to Africa become fascinated by ancestral spirits and spirits in general, as if the mystique of African religions is the only aspect of African spirituality that can hold scholarly interest.4 There are several common features of African indigenous religions that suggest similar origins and allow African religions to be treated as a single religious tradition, just as Christianity and Islam are. In the case of the Yoruba kings and their people, sacred kingship formed a sacred canopy that sheltered the followers of each of the three major traditionsIslam, Christianity, and African traditional religionforging bonds of community identity among followers of the different traditions. Theres a globally shared perspective of Africa being full of diseases. African Cosmology. On the other hand, countries like South Africa, Morocco, and Tunisia sometimes experience snowfalls. The Ifa divination system, which produced 256 chapters of oral narratives, constitutes an encyclopedic compendium of knowledge that provides answers to nearly every meaningful human question in the Yoruba and Fon universe. In Africa, dance is a means of marking life experiences, encouraging abundant crops, honoring kings and queens, celebrating weddings, marking rites of passage, and other ceremonial occasions.Dance is also done purely for enjoyment. These leaders through greed and corruption ruin the image of their countries. Little wonder John Mbiti, a famous African theologian said, Wherever the African is, there is his religion. Today as a minority tradition, indigenous African religions have suffered immensely from human rights abuses. 1 While, officially, statistics suggest that African . The more modern incarnation of this ancient African religionVoodooemerged as a unique blend of Catholic and African magical and religious rites. Thus, it is easy to see why it seems that Africa needs help. This is the popular assumption amongst many African theologians of which Maluleke (1994) is one example. Mary Slessor is accredited to ending this savage act in ancient Calabar, Nigeria. That is the case concerning issues Although many African languages do not have a word for religion as such, it nevertheless accompanies the individual from long before his birth to long after his physical death. This was amazingly written. 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. Indigenous Bapedi music and oral tradition have been dismissed as myth, superstition and primitive stories. .title-desc-wrapper .post-title {display: none !important} Connecting With Your Ancestors (African Spirituality Beliefs and Practices) Monique Joiner Siedlak. Humans are thus able to maintain constant and symbiotic relations with their ancestors who are understood to be intimately concerned and involved in their descendants everyday affairs. Many sources define African worship as ancestral worship which is wrong. The most difficult task I face in characterizing African indigenous spiritual traditions is accounting for their diversity and complexity. When Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code was released, it generated both curiosity and criticism for its portrayal of Christianity. 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. Majority of countries on the continent are . 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. The scope of the study is 1877-when Christianity was first introduced in Uganda to 1962 when Uganda got her independence; the period when Christian missionaries lost influence together with the colonial rulers. When I was in Israel a few years ago, I stayed in a modest bed-and-breakfast inn near the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Hence the misguided notion that Africans are corrupt. Traditional African religions have gone global! 14. African traditional religion refers to the indigenousor autochthonousreligions of the African people. My credentials as a Harvard professor made little impression on him. We and our partners use cookies to Store and/or access information on a device. The story of Mary Slessor and the killing of twins is popular. Unlike other world religions that have written scriptures, oral sources form the core of indigenous African religions. .title-desc-wrapper .view-post {display: none !important} Your email address will not be published. Gradually, there was a shift from ATR to Christianity. Yet in the scholarship on the history of religions, indigenous African religions were never considered a substantive part of the worlds religious traditions, because they failed to fulfill certain criteria defined by axial age civilization. Privileged European scholars denied the agency of African religions and singled outand thereby controlledAfrican identity. In whatever way it happens, African cosmological narratives are similarly complex, unsystematized, and multivariate, and they are the bedrock for indigenous value systems. What is the implication of indigenous hermeneutics for scholars today? Thus, I have argued that religion should be examined not only as a sacred phenomenon, but also as a cultural and human reality, all the while remembering the importance of integrating the sociopolitical dimensions of religiosity into any examination of an African state. It arose through a process of syncretism between several traditional religions of West and Central Africa and Roman Catholicism.There is no central authority in control of the religion and much diversity exists among practitioners, who are known as Vodouists, Vodouisants, or Serviteurs. Another misbelief about Africa is that all Africans are the same. Let's begun by saying that ATR, refer to the indigenous religious beliefs and practices of Africans. Traditional African religions are not stagnant but highly dynamic and constantly reacting to various shifting influences such as old age, modernity, and technological advances. This is based on misconceptions that these religions are antithetical to . traditional African takes the character of critical reflection of the African understanding of reality and world view. It is also the most diversified continent in the world. It is misleading to say "Africa" when speaking about a specific tribe, ethnic group, or country in Africa. In my view, these common misconceptions are due to ill representation of the African culture. Benin Is Getting Back 26 Of Its Looted Artifacts from The Colonial Era. Africa is host to the highest number of religious countries in the world, according to a recent Gallop poll. The oral nature of these traditions allows for a great deal of adaptability and variation within and between indigenous African religions. Women constitute a sizable number of the devotees of these traditions, just as they do in Islam and Christianity. They tend to propagate peaceful coexistence, and they promote good relations with members of other religious traditions that surround them. Your email address will not be published. Truly opening my eyes on traditions, cultures and rituals that I did not know existed. 13. Myth: Slavery is a product of Western civilization. In many African communities, ____________ are qualified to navigate the delicate moral and social balance between the good and evil forces exerted on the human realm. Africa is a continent that is made up of 54 countries, 1.3 billion inhabitants, more than 3000 ethnic groups, and 2100 unique languages. Traditional African religions are less of faith traditions and more of lived traditions. Such an approach should endeavor to provide not only an awareness of sociocultural contexts but also to narrate the historical dimensions of these traditions. African traditional religions are structured very differently from Western religions in that there is relatively little formal structure. Mursi girl in Ethiopia. Thus, many practitioners of African religion, particularly in the shrines of goddesses, are women, indicating the parity with which African religion treats gender and gender-related issues. Scholarship has since proved, however, that the tenacity of indigenous religion is evident in all spheres of African life. In this way, the visible and invisible are in tandem, leading practitioners to speak about all objects, whether animate or inanimate, as potentially sacred on some level. Examples are mobile innovations such as Flutterwave, Sproxil, and Paystack. Furthermore the issue of whether ATR should be called in singular or plural is another issue causing problems in the study of african tradional religion. Intentional or not, this interpretation creates a distorted and misconstrued view of Africans by the rest of the world. African Traditional Religion: A Definition (1973), Omosade Awolalu in Yoruba Belief and Sacrificial Rites and John Mbiti in The Concept of God in Africa (1970) are a few examples of postcolonial scholars of religion who have resisted and denounced colonial idea that Africans do not know God. The much-cited dictum by the doyen of African religious studies, the recently deceased John Mbiti, that Africans are notoriously religious still holds true (though I prefer to use the word deeply).1 While, officially, statistics suggest that African Christians and Muslims constitute about 80 percent of the total population, and African indigenous religion constitutes about 20 percent, these statistics do not reflect the truth of the African situation. It is an accepted position that the African Initiated Churches (AICs) were formed as a result of the search for a unique African identity and culture. Bolaji Idowu, John Mbiti, Wande Abimbola, Benjamin Ray, Gabriel Setiloane, Laura Grillo, Aloysius Lugira, Kofi Asare Opoku, Emefie Ikenga-Metuh, Charles Long, and others attempted to imbue African traditions with the vitality, status, and identity that is now finally recognized. A primary goal of parenting is to transmit values, beliefs and ideas around lifestyles based on cultural knowledge of the adult tasks and competencies needed for appropriate functioning in society (Gershoff, 2002; Harrison, Wilson, Pine, Chon & Buriel, 1990). Oct. 24, 2019. The African tradition of female circumcision is the ritual of the rite of passage from girlhood into the realm of womanhood. Furthermore, many in places like the US and the UK have converted to various traditional African religions, and the importance of the diaspora for these religions is growing rapidly. African religions do not rely on a single individual to be a religious leader, but rather depend on an entire community to make the religion work. Most Africans at home and in the diaspora have made a name for themselves and praised for their contributions to society. Also, poverty is mostly concentrated among few nations in Africa or within few regions of each Nation. What we know as African history today is mostly based on the interpretations of our colonial masters. African traditional religion (ATRs) and spirituality have always been surrounded by negativity. Mudimbe's . The truth is that people in some African countries lack access to education and resources, but they make the most of what they have. As with myths the world over, African mythology includes multiple, often contradictory, versions of the same event. Religious contexts are shaped and determined by the identity of these religions. MISCONCEPTION OF THE SUPREM BEING IN ATR There have been widespread misconceptions about the African Traditional Religion (hereinafter ATR). One reason that might account for the gap in African history is the unavailability of any written document. 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. Haitian Vodou is an African diasporic religion that developed in Haiti between the 16th and 19th centuries. They believe in 4.8 out of 5 stars. Religions of the African diaspora are of particular note and importance to the comparative study of African religions because of their resilience and the characteristic formations leading to their performance and expression. However, the missionaries of the two foreign religions succeeded in converting some African people to the new religions. It is incorrect to assume that conversion to Islam or to Christianity dealt a deathblow to indigenous traditions. An article by BBC explains why Nigeria is a global leader in the Bitcoin trade. . African religions command their own cultural ingenuity, integral logic, and authoritative force. No. He clarifies that there is a close relationship between all things with one reality, and no distinction between physical and spiritual, adding that meaning in life is derived from unity. Countries like Senegal, Mali, and Burkina Faso that are close to the Sahara desert have the Sahel climate. Religion creates a significant part of African life. Now it is our turn to Africanize it.. The stories of violence, kidnapping, religious and political war in Africa are so common. Myth #2. 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. While scholars have often argued that African indigenous accounts of creation were ex nihilo (created out of nothing), as the biblical account of creation is often portrayed,12 African cosmological narratives generally indicate that there is never one pattern governing how creation happens. Acceptably, this was a cruel act of ignorance, but like many other stories about African countries, this story is often generalized. The survey appears to support the prevailing narrative that the most . There is a general misconception that the entire people of North Africa speak Arabic. The ability of the Black community to call on the spirits and ways of its ancestors is crucial to its continu Orishas, Goddesses, and Voodoo Queens: The Divine Feminine in the African Religious Traditions. Perhaps its the abundant wildlife, scorching deserts, or the vast uninhabited plainlands. This action will also remove this member from your connections and send a report to the site admin. 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