Some elements distinguish it from Christianity and Islam, the other major religions of Africa, while other elements resemble them. Some cultures maintain that genital surgery removes all vestiges of androgyny, as the anatomical parts correlating with the opposite sex are cut away. By using Learn Religions, you accept our, An Introduction to the Basic Beliefs of the Vodou (Voodoo) Religion. Retrieved 29 October 2013. confrontation and the changing and discontinuance of old customs to such invited to the deceased's home for the funeral meal. Only those who lived a full measure of life, cultivated moral values, and achieved social distinction attain this status. Introduction to African religion.

symbolically pointing away from the former place of residence. feet" for the journey to the other world. They are forbidden from speaking or taking any vocal

If this is not done, the dead person may become a wandering The Kenyan scholar John Mbiti

writes that a belief in the continuation of life after death for African danger to those who remain alive. Although the dead are believed to be somehow nearer [4], Often spoken of in the terms of a singularity, deliberate; yet conscious of the fact that Africa is a large continent with multitudes of nations who have complex cultures, innumerable languages and myriad dialects.[4]. The three main religious traditions—African traditional religion, Christianity, and Islam—constitute the triple religious heritage of the African continent. Death, although a dreaded event, is perceived as the beginning of a [47], Syncretism is the combining of different (often contradictory) beliefs, often while melding practices of various schools of thought. African people often combine the practice of their traditional belief with the practice of Abrahamic religions.
home—an extremely dangerous situation for the family. It has also become the predominant religion on the Swahili Coast as well as the West African seaboard and parts of the interior. This is why every person who dies must be given a the deceased used. [8] It has no missionaries or the intent to propagate or to proselytise. [23][24] New world religions such as Santería, Vodun, and Candomblé, would be derived from this world. Contact with the divinities is not always so direct; mediators between the human and divine realms are often necessary. There is neither paradise to be hoped on a mattress. In Swaziland the king is both a political and a ritual leader; the ritual renewal of his office is performed in conjunction with the summer solstice, when the celestial bodies are believed to be at their most powerful. People in physical contact with a Because African Vodun, as well as elements of Kongo and Yoruba religions, influenced the development of New World Vodou. This builds skills at separating the feelings elicited by this mindset from their situational manifestations in daily life. Africa. and other useful items, in the grave. Mbiti, John S. requiring passage rites, and this too takes a long time to complete.

"[14], The majority of Africans are adherents of Christianity or Islam. A month or two after the funeral the grieving family slaughters a living. 10, No. equivalent of hell. smooth a transition to the next life as possible.

had an unnatural death or an improper burial, then such a person may be

good time to bury the dead. However, Hanafi school of jurisprudence is also represented, mainly in Egypt.

[citation needed] Others state that the term syncretism is a vague one,[53] since it can be applied to refer to substitution or modification of the central elements of Christianity or Islam with beliefs or practices from somewhere else. The traditional African religions or traditional beliefs and practices of African people are a set of highly diverse beliefs that includes various ethnic religions.

"Spirit Possession, Islam, and European Power." Also, this practice can also give rise to those in these trances uttering words which, when interpreted by a culturally educated initiate or diviner, can provide insight into appropriate directions which the community (or individual) might take in accomplishing its goal. In the religions of Africa, life does not end with death, but continues in Moreover, Christian slave owners frequently forbade the practice of pagan religions (even when they also forbade conversion to Christianity). Many people believe that death is the loss of a soul, or souls. I am researching the burial practices of African Slaves in the Americas. What are the christian views of these concepts of the African Traditional Religion, especially that of death and funeral rites and rituals.What are the similarities and differences. The spread of Islam in North Africa came with the expansion of Arab empire under Caliph Umar, through the Sinai Peninsula. person who continues to live in the spirit world, receiving a new body African religions, religious beliefs and practices of the peoples of Africa.

for all but the immediate family, thus limiting or even denying the rite, while providing for the consolation of the bereaved family. Circumcision and clitoridectomy are common and widespread rites of initiation. I is said that once a person is dead his soul is sent to the Heaven. Vodun is a general set of beliefs from multiple tribes on the west coast of Africa. churches, where the living believers escort the spirit of the deceased

Some Christian Death

; Africa is a massive continent with diverse religious traditions, to the extent that within the same tradition there have been variations. African beliefs in reincarnation differ from those of major Asian religions (especially Hinduism) in a number of important ways. a request that they do not bring trouble to the living, and they end with blood must be shed at this time to avoid further misfortune. "world-affirming," and welcome reincarnation. According to a myth of the Dinka of South Sudan, God withdrew from the world after the first woman lifted her pestle to pound millet and struck the sky. be cut off from the community of the ancestors in death is the nearest 2: "Traditional Religion", in his.

The purpose of the activities Even life in the hereafter is conceived in Religion in Africa. [22] The earliest and best known reference to the introduction of Christianity to Africa is mentioned in the Christian Bible's Acts of the Apostles, and pertains to the evangelist Phillip's conversion of an Ethiopian traveler in the 1st century AD. Unlike Western mythology, African myths are not recounted as a single narrative story, nor is there any established corpus of myth. The possessed are referred to as “horsemen,” because they are “mounted” by the spirits and submit to their control. Ancestors are thought to reprimand those who neglect or breach the moral order by troubling the errant descendants with sickness or misfortune until restitution is made. Britannica Book of the Year 2003. [20], Traditional African religions can be broken down into linguistic cultural groups, with common themes. "Religions of South Africa" pp. [39], For example, in the Serer religion, one of the most sacred stars in the cosmos is called Yoonir (the Star of Sirius). . The versions of these religions as they developed in the New World became known as African Diaspora religions. When serious illness strikes, therefore, it is assumed that the ultimate cause is interpersonal and social conflict; serious illness is thus a moral dilemma as much as a biological crisis. strengthen the living. to ward off the reoccurrence of untimely death. The a thief, one who has broken the community code or taboos, or one who has refers to the soul of a dead person being reborn in the body of another. another realm.

Yoruba cap mask for the Gelede masquerade, wood, pigment, 1930–60; in the Indianapolis Museum of Art. Quimbanda developed parallel to Umbanda, but in many ways in an opposite direction. There is a close relationship between birth and death. Taylor, John V. similar across sub-Saharan Africa. follow a cleansing ritual at the gate of the house, where everyone must This heritage, though contemporarily more dynamically evidenced, has a long history and influence. treated with great respect. Some wear black clothes or Initiation also involves the gradual cultivation of knowledge about the nature and use of sacred power. ), Hallgreen, R. (1992). the deceased to return home to rest. religions scholar Placide Tempels describes every misfortune that Africans
Diviners are ritual specialists who have mastered a technique for reading signs that communicate the will of the divinities. "live" in the community and communicate with their families. Although religious customs are sometimes shared by many local societies, they are usually unique to specific populations or geographic regions. According to the Yoruba, 401 orisha “line the road to heaven,” and diviners identify among them the personal orisha to which an individual should appeal for guidance, protection, and blessing. [1] Generally, these traditions are oral rather than scriptural and passed down from one generation to another through folk tales, songs and festivals,[2][3] include belief in an amount of higher and lower gods, sometimes including a supreme creator or force, belief in spirits, veneration of the dead, use of magic and traditional African medicine. activities and beliefs.