Portal:Traditional African religions

Welcome to the Traditional African religions portal

Introduction Local ceremony in Benin featuring azangbeto The beliefs and practices ofAfricanpeople are highly diverse, including variousethnic religions.Generally, these traditions areoralrather thanscripturaland are passed down from one generation to another through folk tales, songs, and festivals, and include beliefs in spirits and higher and lower gods, sometimes including a supreme being, as well as theveneration of the dead,and use ofmagicandtraditional African medicine.Most religions can be described asanimisticwith variouspolytheisticandpantheisticaspects. The role of humanity is generally seen as one of harmonizing nature with the supernatural. (Full article...) Selected article 'Zulu traditional religioncontains numerousdeitiescommonly associated with animals or general classes of natural phenomena.Unkulunkuluis the highest God and is the creator of humanity. UNkulunkulu ( "the greatest one" ) was created in Uhlanga, a huge swamp of reeds, before he came toEarth.Unkulunkulu is sometimes conflated with the Sky Sun godUMvelinqangi(meaning "He who was in the very beginning" ), god ofthunder,earthquakewhose other name is Unsondo, and is the son of Unkulunkulu, the Father, and Nomkhubulwane, the Mother. The word Nomkhubulwane means the one whoshapeshiftinto any form of an animal. Selected images AnIgbo Ukwubronze ceremonial vessel made around the 9th century AD. Credit:Ukabia More about this picture on Archaeology of Igbo-Ukwu... TheSenegambian stone circles(Wassu section) believed by archaeologists and historians to be built by theSerer peopleof theSenegambia region.The Senegambia stone circles are the largest concentration of stone circles seen anywhere in the world according to UNESCO. They are sacred burial grounds and a place ofritual offerings(kuurinSerer). Credit:Atamari For more about this picture, seeSenegambian stone circles,Mummification and Cult of the Upright Stones in Serer religion,andSerer ancient history. Traditional healer of South Africaperforming a divination by reading the bones. Credit: User:FastilyClone (Fastily) For more about this picture, seeDivination in Traditional African religionsandAfrican divination An early 20th centuryYorubadivinationboard. Credit:Tamsier For more about this picture, seeDivination in Traditional African religionsandAfrican divination An early-20th-centuryIgbomedicine man inNigeria,West Africa. Credit:Ukabia For more about this picture, seeDivination in Traditional African Religions,African divination,Traditional African medicineandIgbo religion. Vodun altar with several fetishes inAbomey,Benin(West Africa). Credit:Dominik Schwarz More about this picture on West African Vodun... Sererrepresentation of theuniverse.The three worlds:the invisible world, the terrestrial world and the nocturnal world. Credit:Henry Gravrand-La civilisation sereer:Pangool For more about this picture, seeSerer creation mythandSerer religion(A ƭat Roog). TheMbotmask. Symbol of theSererpeoples'Ndut initiation rite. Credit:Tamsier More about the Ndut rite of passage.... The starYoonir,symbol of the Universe inSerer religionandCosmogony.The peak of the star (top point) represents the Supreme Deity (Roog). The other four points represent thecardinal pointsof the Universe. The crossing of the lines ( "bottom left" and "top right", and "top left" and "bottom right" ) pinpoints theaxisof theUniversethat all energies pass. The top point is "the point of departure and conclusion, the origin and the end". Among the Serers who cannot read or write the Latin alphabet, it is very common for them to sign official documents with the star ofYoonir,as the star also represents "good fortune and destiny". Yoonir also represents theSerer peopleand the Serer precolonialKingdom of Sine. Credits:Sarang,AnonMoos,(andYoonir filebyTamsier) For more about thepentagramin Serer spirituality, seeYoonir in Serer religionandSerer creation myth. The godsOsiris,AnubisandHorus,in order from left to right, painted inside the tomb of pharaohHoremheb. Credit:A. Parrot For more about this picture, seeAncient Egyptian deitiesandAncient Egyptian religion. Bakongomasks from theKongo Central.In traditional African religions, masks play an important part in many ritual ceremonies. Credit:Ndoto ya Afrika For more about this picture, seePractices and rituals in traditional African religions,Traditional African masks,African artandAfrican sculpture. Festivals There are several religious festivals found in thevarious Traditional African religions.Some of these are listed below next to their corresponding religion: Afro-Cuban religion:Plantes Dogon religion:Bulo —Sigi—Dama— Bado — Bago — Gogo Igbo religion:Ekpe festivals—New Yam Festival of the Igbo— The Iwa ji festival Jamaican Maroon religion:Kumina—Kromanti dance Jola:Kumpo—Niasse—Samay San religion:Healing dances Serer religion:Daqaar mboob — Diouck — Gamo — Jobai — Khanghere —Mindisse—Mbosseh (or mboosé)— Mboudaye —Ndut— Randou Rande —Raan(held atTukar,see alsoSaltigue) — Sam Southieh —The consultation at Ngalagne—The massacre of Cadde—The royal struggle—The session struggle at Ndiaye-Ndiaye—The session struggle Jiloor(Jijaak) — Tobaski — Tourou Peithie —Xoy(main Xoy held atFatick) Yoruba religion:Odun Egungun—The Yoruba calendar (the year in festivals) Selected biography Marguerite Dupire(born inRoubaix- 12 October 1920) is aFrenchethnologistwho specialises onAfrican people,and had worked extensively on theFulaniofNiger,Cameroon,Guinea,Senegal,and then after a mission inIvory Coast,on theSerer peopleofSine(in Senegal) since 1965. Selected quote “ The environment and nature are infused in every aspect oftraditional African religionsandculture.This is largely because cosmology and beliefs are intricately intertwined with the natural phenomena and environment. All aspects of weather, thunder, lightning, rain, day, moon, sun, stars, and so on may become amenable to control through the cosmology of African people. Natural phenomena are responsible for providing people with their daily needs. ” Roger S. Gottlieb Source: Gottlieb, Roger S.,The Oxford Handbook of Religion and Ecology,Oxford University Press(2006), p. 261,ISBN9780199727698[1] Did you know ...that the organizers ofFESTIMA,a festival inBurkina Fasocelebratingtraditional African masks,estimate that 100,000 people attended in 2016? Related portals All Africa-related portals Topics For more Traditional African religion topics, seeCategory:Traditional African religions. Categories Category puzzle Select [►] to view subcategories Traditional African religions African art African shamanism African witchcraft Akan religion Ancient Egyptian religion African deities Dogon religion Edo religion Films about traditional African religions Jola religion Kongo religion African mythology Names of God in African traditional religions Sacred sites in traditional African religions Serer religion Traditional African religions portal West African Vodun Yoruba religion Traditional African religions stubs WikiProjects Africa Religion Spirituality Things you can do Associated Wikimedia The followingWikimedia Foundationsister projects provide more on this subject: Commons Free media repository Wikibooks Free textbooks and manuals Wikidata Free knowledge base Wikinews Free-content news Wikiquote Collection of quotations Wikisource Free-content library Wikiversity Free learning tools Wiktionary Dictionary and thesaurus Discover Wikipedia usingportals List of all portals The arts portal Biography portal Current events portal Geography portal History portal Mathematics portal Science portal Society portal Technology portal Random portal WikiProject Portals