Traditional African religions are not stagnant but highly dynamic and constantly reacting to various shifting influences such as old age, modernity, and technological advances. According to the Global peace index, Malaysia, Botswana, and Ghana are among the top 50 most peaceful countries, beating the United Kingdom and the United States that were ranked 45 and 128 respectively. 9 years ago. Africans engaged Western enlightenment and religious traditions in serious dialogue and conversation, and responded by creating and interpreting their own modernity. It is misleading to say "Africa" when speaking about a specific tribe, ethnic group, or country in Africa. Copyright 2023 President and Fellows of Harvard College. 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.. 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. In African traditional religions guidance is provided through myths, which are handed down orally. Several African countries have good health care systems. Its almost as if pre-colonial Africa never existed. Elders, priests, and priestesses have served as guardians of the sacred traditions. 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. One reason that might account for the gap in African history is the unavailability of any written document. Mudimbe's . One of my favorite Ifa narratives acknowledges to Yoruba Muslims that climbing Mount Arafat was the most significant act of the hajj. It is the foundation on which the morals of pre-colonial Africa were built. A 1685 law, for instance, prohibited the practice of African religions, and required all masters to Christianize their slaves within eight days of their arrival in Haiti. 2,269. 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. Many foreign nations and organizations do send aid to African countries. African dance occupies central place in cultures throughout the African continent, embodying energy and a graceful beauty flowing with rhythm. 12. Instead, the old and the new were syncretized, producing some unique . They include assumptions, misconceptions, traditional or religious beliefs and beliefs about the . Portia Zvavahera, Cosmic Prayer, 2019, oil-based printing ink and oil bar on canvas. An example of data being processed may be a unique identifier stored in a cookie. Haitian Vodou is an African diasporic religion that developed in Haiti between the 16th and 19th centuries. John Mbiti in his book African Religion and Philosophy, argued that African Religion deserves the same respect as Christianity, Islam, Judaism, and Buddhism. Indigenous religion has always played a pivotal role in the African public sphere, as my study of the Ifa divination system has shown.18 In indigenous religion, communities are governed according to the dictates of the gods, particularly through a divination system such as Fa (Benin) and Ifa (Southwest Nigeria), which encompass the political, social, and economic conditions of life. 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? One of the most ridiculous myths about it is that homosexuality did not exist in the continent until white men imported it. Orishas, Goddesses, and Voodoo Queens: The Divine Feminine in the African Religious Traditions. Indigenous African religions contain a great deal of wisdom and insight on how human beings can best live within and interact with the environment. .p-summary {display: none !important} African traditional medicine (ATM) has been used by African populations for the treatment of diseases long before the advent of orthodox medicine and continues to carry a part of the burden of health for the majority of the population. Please note: Gradually, many Africans began to buy the narrative. Traditional African religions have gone global! The misconception about African religion Man generally is given to misconception especially in the midst of conflicting ideas or contending issues. Gradually, there was a shift from ATR to Christianity. An Ifa song warns those embarking on the pilgrimage to be pure and those who possess witchcraft not to embark on the pilgrimage. To each his own. 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. 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. Morocco and Algeria are typical examples of this misconception. It was just the belief of a few groups of people known as Efik people, the predominant tribe in Calabar. Mostly, the temperatures of these zones vary between the extremes (Either very hot or very cold). Please allow a few minutes for this process to complete. On the continent early modernizers assumed that African religion was part of the problem of the antimodernity project and that uprooting African indigenous religion would auger well for the modern African state. Prior to colonization, there was scarcely any form of writing in the majority of African tribes and cultures. For Ivy Akumu '15, it sparked an interest in the history of Christianity and, by extension, of other religions. In fact, we should not misunderstand the notoriety in some people's religious life, just like Apart from the different languages, every tribe and culture have their way of dressing too. These leaders through greed and corruption ruin the image of their countries. African religions command their own cultural ingenuity, integral logic, and authoritative force. Indigenous African religions are not based on conversion like Islam and Christianity. Apart from a few instances in West Africa, where women actually ruled as kings, the designation queen was not often used in isolation from the position itself (which was defined in male terms). The culture believes and traditions of the people of Africa is vast and should not be oversimplified in a stereotypical way. 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. Hence to call African traditional religion ancestral worship would cause problems in the study of ATR. Religion occupies a reasonable space in the life of the traditional African/Igbo people. Foreign aid has been helpful to many small African countries that are struggling economically. 15. So, while Africans easily adopt Western traditions, will the West also be willing to adopt African traditions? This inaccurate assessment of African belief even affects the definition of African religion. . The Mursi religion is classified as Animism. Myth #2. The African religion was condemned by the Early European scholars, travelers, investigators and missionaries. Traditional African religion is based on oral traditions, which means that the basic values and way of life are passed from elders to younger generation. These one-sided stories or reports are among the major roots of stereotypes and myths about Africa. But, the bad eggs seem to get more attention. The problem is, this number is often collated for the whole of Africa, instead of each country of Africa. Fact: Slavery is older than the first human records. If you take these reports at face value, you may start to believe that all Africans are poor. Here are some 10 myths about Africa and Africans that are either an exaggeration of the fact or based on misguided information. The traditional religions of Africa are human in the deepest sense, because they focus on people and their everyday problems. traditional African takes the character of critical reflection of the African understanding of reality and world view. 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. 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. There are rituals that celebrate the passage of time and mark time as it passes for the people, orienting them to the seasonal changes, such as the new yam festival and celebration of the old season and beginning of a new one. The range of African indigenous beliefs and practices has been referred to as African traditional religions in an effort to encompass the breadth and depth of the religious traditions on the continent.2 The diversity of the traditions themselves is tremendous, making it next to impossible for all of them to be captured in a single presentation. They still hold onto their traditional beliefs, culture, and practices, but consider western values superior to theirs. Colonization may seem to be over but for African traditional religion, it is not. Jacob K. Olupona is Professor of African Religious Traditions at Harvard Divinity School and Professor of African and African American Studies in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University. John Mbiti divides spirit beings into two types, nature spirits and human spirits. religions are considered: African Traditional Religions (ATRs) especially that which is found in sub-Saharan Africa, and Christianity, sometimes referred to under the umbrella of faith-based communities. 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. Many sources define African worship as ancestral worship which is wrong. b. certain clan outsiders. Initially, Christian missionaries and propagators of Islam assumed that indigenous religion would eventually fizzle out, while Islam and Christianity would dominate the African religious scene. By Jacob K. Olupona. The Bambara and Malinke people of Mali believed that the primordial beings were twins. 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. Understanding the contours of traditions as they are today consists of picturing both what they are and what they can be against the backdrop of what they once were. Each transition has a function within the society. Traditional African religions are less of faith traditions and more of lived traditions. Similar to other West African communities, the Yoruba did not reject Western modernity but challenged its claim to ontological and epistemological superiority. 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. .title-desc-wrapper .post-title {display: none !important} They held the view that twins were a symbol of excessive fertility which is a characteristic of animals. Please confirm you want to block this member. In many African countries a range of beliefs and attitudes underpin these alternative explanations. The survey appears to support the prevailing narrative that the most . For example, James George Frazer (18541941) and Edward B. Tylor (18321917) classified indigenous religious practices of natives not as universally religious or generative of religious cultures but as forms of primitive religion or magic arising from the lower of three stages of human progress. Myth 3: Africa Is Lacking Innovation. Traditional African religions are less of faith traditions and more of lived traditions. a. newly birthed babies. It should be noted that any attempt to generalize about the nature of "African religions" risks wrongly implying that there is homogeneity among all African cultures. 8. Thus, it is easy to see why it seems that Africa needs help. Connecting With Your Ancestors (African Spirituality Beliefs and Practices) Monique Joiner Siedlak. 45 Francis Avenue, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138. 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 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. For African-American parents, transmitting an awareness of cultural values and norms . Perhaps this is because the traditional African system was dependent on the oral form of communication. As spirits, the ancestors are more powerful than living humans, and they continue to play a role in community affairs after their deaths, acting as intermediaries between God and those still living.6 Finally, I would add that Africans live their faith rather than compartmentalize it into something to be practiced on certain days or in particular places. Like Mbiti and Green, Magesa notes that the world of African Traditional Religion is a hierarchically ordered place where, God is seen as the Great ancestor, the first Founder and the Progenitor, the Giver of Life behind everything that exists. Indigenous religions are definitive of the African identity, as African religion and cultures provide the language, the ethos, the knowledge, and the ontology that enable the proper formation of African personhood, communal identity, and values that constitute kernels of African ethnic assemblages. The oral nature of these traditions allows for a great deal of adaptability and variation within and between indigenous African religions. 10. African leaders are also investing heavily in diversifying the economy. Once again, this is far from the truth. 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. Ceremonies of naming, rites of passage, death, and other calendrical rites embody, enact, and reinforce the sacred values communicated in myths. Ifa rejects the religious extremism of certain forms of radical Islam making life unbearable in todays world. Advocating for civil religion in a religiously pluralistic society does not require the erasure of conventional religious traditions. African identity and culture are preserved in African Traditional Religion. In certain contexts and communities we have many documented instances of the central role of goddesses as founders of traditions, builders of kingdoms, and saviors and defenders of cities and civilizationsfor example, Moremi in Yorubaland, Nzinga in Angola, and Osun in West Africa. ao Ajima OM, Ubana EU (2018) The Concept . Voodoo, however, is a dynamic religion with no standardized dogma. This misconception has, in some scholars, matured into prejudice and resilient skepticism about the African's ability to grasp the concept of God. Manage Settings It deals with their cosmology, ritual practices, symbols, arts, society, and so on. John Mbiti, chap. Today, several myths are mixed with facts in describing African traditional religion. They are less concerned with doctrines and much more so with rituals, ceremonies, and lived practices. Required fields are marked *, Hello my question is how can I find a list of African countries that offers citizenship. John Mbiti, a prominent Christian theologian from Kenya who helped debunk entrenched ideas that traditional African religions were primitive, giving them equal weight with major . Many traditional African religions are based on guiding principles that are unfathomable to foreigners, more specifically those with interests such as historians and scholars. Narratives about the creation of the universe (cosmogony) and the nature and structure of the world (cosmology) provide a useful entry to understanding African religious life and worldviews. God is the first Initiator of a people's way of Life, its tradition. Introduction. There are key developmental projects in some African countries that would not be possible without Foreign aids. African scholars in the United States are paying increasing attention to African images in African American culture and religion.20 Some scholars, especially literary critics, now scout African American novels such as Toni Morrisons and Alice Walkers works, for glimpses of African traditions. 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. There are few religions as globally misunderstood as African traditional religions. c. medicine men and women. 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. The colonial masters brought with them a new religion which they believe to be superior to African traditional religion. In the Americas and the Caribbean, it is thought to be a combination of various African, Catholic and Native American traditions. Another generalization about Africa is that they are all corrupt. Most Africans at home and in the diaspora have made a name for themselves and praised for their contributions to society. It is a well-known fact that religion continues to play a central and vital role in the lives of African people. 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. This unified the tribes in a way, making it seem as if they are all the same. Lilith Dorsey. However, in the new world, we are seeing that the stone that the builders had rejected has become the cornerstone and central pillar: for example, Santeria was central to Cuban state making, and in Brazil only recently has Pentecostalism become responsible for the violence against Candombl devotees. Hence the misguided notion that Africans are corrupt. MISCONCEPTION OF THE SUPREM BEING IN ATR There have been widespread misconceptions about the African Traditional Religion (hereinafter ATR). 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. There are quite a number of revival groups and movements whose main aim is to ensure that the tenants and practice of African indigenous religion that are threatened survive. Africa is often seen as a poor Country and one that cant do without the help of the western world. They often dictate when the community honors a particular divinity or observes particular taboos. 1 While, officially, statistics suggest that African . Therefore for these people, twins were treasures. 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. This is a testament to the strong morals and principles of the African tradition. Before colonization, marriages were strictly traditional and depends on the customs, traditions, and believes of, Africa is a beautiful continent. Information was passed down mostly by oral communication in the form of folk tales. Robert N. Bellah, Civil Religion in America,, Jacob K. Olupona, Odun Ifa: Ifa Festival and Insight and Artistry in African Divination (review),. Even the word religion, used in reference to these traditions, is in itself problematic for many Africans, because it suggests that religion is separate from other aspects of ones culture, society, and environment. Advertisement. Giving opportunity to stereotypes like Africa are poor and Africa is corrupt. These countries are often very hot. No. The absence of centralized and unified cosmologies indicates the multifaceted nature of African religious life and worldviews. Using the qualitative historical research . The Hausa man is different from the Igbo man who is also different from the Yoruba man. Many centuries ago, Ifa must have envisaged the possibility of Boko Harams Islamic extremist movement ravaging Nigeria today. These traditions have been passed from one generation to the next. Let's begun by saying that ATR, refer to the indigenous religious beliefs and practices of Africans. These traditions are not religious principles, but a cultural identity that is passed on through stories, myths and tales. These oral sources are intricately interwoven into arts, political and social structure, and material culture. /* Must be below squarespace-headers */(function(){var e='ontouchstart'in window||navigator.msMaxTouchPoints;var t=document.documentElement;if(!e&&t){t.className=t.className.replace(/touch-styles/,'')}})(), Bakongomasks from the Kongo Central Photo: Wikipedia. These 11 Traditional African Clothing Will Help You Identify Ethnic Groups At A Glance, 10 Facts And Myths About African Traditional Religion - African Vibes, 10 Prominent Ways Africans Showcase Their Culture, 10 Traditional African Dances That Showcase Africa’s Rich Culture, more than 3000 ethnic groups, and 2100 unique languages, the most diversified continent in the world, 30 % of the earths remaining mineral resources, Thinking Of Volunteering? Lets take the killing of twins as a case study. Jul 26, 2007 #1. Perhaps this is linked to the idea that Africa has an inadequate or substandard health care system. Myths reveal critical events and episodesinvolving superhuman entities, gods, spirits, ancestorsthat are of profound and transcendent significance to the African people who espouse them. Rather, institutional religion continues to grow in relevance and in the national imagination, whether its invocations are part of conversations concerning nation building, Maitatsine and Boko Haram violence, the secularism debate, the Sharia debate, the question of Islamic banking, or the role of the Organization of Islamic Conference. A porous border exists between the human realm and the sky, which belongs to the gods. Africa has 4 main climate zones. Many economic forecasts predict the rapid growth in the African Market. What is the implication of indigenous hermeneutics for scholars today? Voodoo has no scripture or world authority. African religion supplies knowledge to live by and also a transfer of tradition, worldview, ethical orientation (principles of what is right or wrong), an ontologya way of life. Another false impression often given about African religions is that women do not play any central or leadership roles in the performance of African religious traditions. Without relevant knowledge, stereotypes are unavoidable. Depending on the kind of religious activity being performed, different religious authorities can be leaders for specific events. 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. In this essay, I attempt to refocus the centrality of indigenous religion, not only in defining African cosmology and an African worldview, but also in defining the African personality in the twenty-first century. African traditional religion refers to the indigenousor autochthonousreligions of the African people. 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). The major roots of stereotypes and myths about Africa is often collated for the of!, Cosmic Prayer, 2019, oil-based printing ink and oil bar on canvas for gap!, refer to the next Joiner Siedlak different from the truth types, nature spirits and human.. And oil bar on canvas perhaps this is because the traditional religions of Africa oral sources are intricately interwoven arts! Problem is, this number is often collated for the whole of Africa are poor Africa. 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