Such dismissal has been based on the misconception and assumption that indigenous Bapedi . We must be careful not to give the impression that African religious lives are compartmentalized into what is often called the triple heritage (Islam, Christianity, and African traditional religion). The Ndembu tribe of the Democratic Republic of Congo shared a similar belief. Myth: Slavery is a product of capitalism. They are less concerned with doctrines and much more so with rituals . Gender dynamics are important in African indigenous religions and in cultural systems, so much so that women goddesses and women-invented rituals are commonplace. Many centuries ago, Ifa must have envisaged the possibility of Boko Harams Islamic extremist movement ravaging Nigeria today. 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. What is the implication of indigenous hermeneutics for scholars today? The ability of the Black community to call on the spirits and ways of its ancestors is crucial to its continu It is also the most diversified continent in the world. However, the Efik people of Calabar were not the only ones who believed twin children were an abomination. 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. Fact: Slaves were always subject to torture, sexual exploitation, and arbitrary . Thank you. The absence of centralized and unified cosmologies indicates the multifaceted nature of African religious life and worldviews. 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. African identity and culture are preserved in African Traditional Religion. It is misleading to say Africa when speaking about a specific tribe, ethnic group, or country in Africa. They believe in John Mbiti divides spirit beings into two types, nature spirits and human spirits. 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. Wherever the African is, there is his religion: he carries it to the fields where he is sowing seeds or harvesting a new crop; he takes it with him to the beer party or to attend a funeral ceremony;. Each ceremony denotes passage from one social status to another and is an opportunity to celebrate the initiates on their journey. That is why we have freewill, and regardless of whether we choose to acknowledge that a living God exists or not, and regardless of how we choose to worship Him, directly or through deities, we will all be eventually accountable. Portia Zvavahera, His Presence, 2013, oil-based printing ink on paper. For example, in many African cultures, intending couples MUST perform both traditional and white weddings. The oral nature of these traditions allows for a great deal of adaptability and variation within and between indigenous African religions. Traditional African religions are less of faith traditions and more of lived traditions. These elements are worth exploring and espousing. Myths, folklores proverbs therefore become the major sources of African philosophy (Jaja, 1995:28). In fact, Africa is a vast continent encompassing both geographic variation and tremendous cultural diversity. 1 While, officially, statistics suggest that African . 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. Ritual enables supernatural beings to bless individuals and the community with sustenance, prosperity, and fecundity.14 Rites of passage, such as initiation ceremonies, are rituals marking personal transitions recognized and celebrated by the community. However, African traditional religion is resilient which explains its continued existence after so many years. This unified the tribes in a way, making it seem as if they are all the same. Catholic moral theologian Laurenti Magesa argues that, unlike clothes, which one can wear and take off, for Africans, religion is like skin that cannot be so easily abandoned.7 Mbiti also captures this unique aspect in the following passage: Because traditional religions permeate all the departments of life, there is no formal distinction between the sacred and the secular, between the religious and non-religious, between the spiritual and the material areas of life. What we know as African history today is mostly based on the interpretations of our colonial masters. Published. Mary Slessor is accredited to ending this savage act in ancient Calabar, Nigeria. For one thing, a sizable number of African myths deal with events considered to have actually happened as narrated by the people themselves or as reformulated into symbolic expressions of historical events. .pagination {display: none !important} Hence, the aforementioned rituals are the entry point not only for an understanding of African tradition and religions but also for the visible manifestations and essence of African religious traditions. In most African cultures, history and beliefs have been explained and passed on through oral traditions and storytelling. Orishas, Goddesses, and Voodoo Queens: The Divine Feminine in the African Religious Traditions. 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. African religions, religious beliefs and practices of the peoples of Africa. Using the qualitative historical research . This lack of knowledge as well as understanding of essentials has led to burgeoning of myths on African . Slowly, they projected ATR as barbaric and dehumanizing. For Ivy Akumu '15, it sparked an interest in the history of Christianity and, by extension, of other religions. Myth #2. When he heard that I came from Nigeria, he wanted to display his knowledge of Ocha tradition as a devotee of Oxhosi, God of Thunder in Afro-Brazilian heritage. The truth is that people in some African countries lack access to education and resources, but they make the most of what they have. They are less concerned with doctrines and much more so with rituals, ceremonies, and lived practices. Yes, poverty is an issue in Africa. They held the view that twins were a symbol of excessive fertility which is a characteristic of animals. 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). As with myths the world over, African mythology includes multiple, often contradictory, versions of the same event. Africans who follow a traditional religion rely on no scriptures, canonical texts, or holy books to guide them. 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 . While some Christian mission historians, such as J. D. Y. Peel, for example, correctly argue that the Yoruba had their own enlightenment (Olaju), this is always presented in the context of Christian conversion and is very much tied to the escalating Christian missionary movement. Whether it is being wrongly labelled voodoo, juju or witchcraft, indigenous African faith systems tend to be associated with darkness, animal and human sacrifices, violence and general backwardness. African Religion is not Ancestor Worship. Their many realities that Africans have not been . This is based on misconceptions that these religions are antithetical to modernity. Your email address will not be published. Please note: However, the so-called white wedding is Western culture. 3. African countries are also top the list of the 2021 WHO health care index. It all depends on the time of the year. African people do not worship their deceased relatives or ancestors. Each of the more than 50 modern . We and our partners use cookies to Store and/or access information on a device. In my view, these common misconceptions are due to ill representation of the African culture. African American women are turning more and more to goddess religions and Orisa practices, as they find African religion offering them greater religious autonomy than other Western religions. They often dictate when the community honors a particular divinity or observes particular taboos. Connecting With Your Ancestors (African Spirituality Beliefs and Practices) Monique Joiner Siedlak. Perhaps its the abundant wildlife, scorching deserts, or the vast uninhabited plainlands. 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. However, the missionaries of the two foreign religions succeeded in converting some African people to the new religions. The Trans-Atlantic slave trade led to the growth of African-inspired traditions in the Americas such as Candombl in Brazil, Santera in Cuba, or Vodun in Hati. The misconception about African religion Man generally is given to misconception especially in the midst of conflicting ideas or contending issues. All Religions has truth hidden in them for those who objectively seek them through the path of the religion. Haitian Vodou is an African diasporic religion that developed in Haiti between the 16th and 19th centuries. 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. Divinities and ancestors have personalized annual festivals during which devotees and adepts offer sacrificial animals, libations, and favored foods to propitiate them. 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. 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. Because of this, rituals were done to prevent the birth of twins which the people believed to be an anomaly. Africans combine a belief in the existence of a omnipresent and omnipotent supreme god, with multitudes of subordinate deities. The area of study is Buganda in Uganda. God is the first Initiator of a people's way of Life, its tradition. African Traditional Religion is the traditional religion of the African people before the coming of Islam and Christianity. Also, poverty is mostly concentrated among few nations in Africa or within few regions of each Nation. When addressing religion in Africa, scholars often speak of a triple heritage, that is the triple legacy of indigenous religion, Islam, and Christianity that are often found side by side in many African societies. As many might know, one type of ritualinitiations for adolescent African girlscauses great consternation among Westerners, because these often involve rites like female circumcision or other bodied practices. Truly opening my eyes on traditions, cultures and rituals that I did not know existed. Later in my academic life, I explored theoretical issues at the national level, showing how Nigerian civil religionan invisible faithprovided a template for assessing how we fared at nation building, allowing the symbols of Nigerian nationhood to take on religious significance for the Nigerian public above and beyond any particular cultural communities of faith.17 I do not want to be misunderstood here. Slavery and World History. 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. For this reason, in many parts of Africa, the communal aspects of such rituals have been retained, due to their salience, while the circumcision practice has been dispensed with altogether, due to the health risks associated with it; this is the case among the Maasai in Kenya and in Somali culture, both in Djibouti and Somalia. And why should our work in critical theory not begin from indigenous hermeneutics before we invoke Martin Heidegger, Michel Foucault, or Jrgen Habermas as platforms for interpreting our own worldview and society? Now it is our turn to Africanize it.. Without relevant knowledge, stereotypes are unavoidable. What is fascinating about this odu (Ifa text) is that it supports a key and cardinal principle of Ifa traditionthat we seek counsel first, before we perform divination (Imoram la nda ki a to da Ifa). That is the ultimate and absolute being who originated and gives meaning to all existence.9 III. Most Africans at home and in the diaspora have made a name for themselves and praised for their contributions to society. Lilith Dorsey. Female circumcision is a hotly contested practice condemned by many global organizations and lumped together under the category of female genital mutilation. Few have much clarity or knowledge on what is actually involved. It is a well-known fact that religion continues to play a central and vital role in the lives of African people. Mudimbe's . 15. Each of these has its peculiar characteristics. 3. More so, myths encode the traditional settings of the African and their belief system. 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