Mudimbe's . This is far from the truth. A proper ongoing study of Ifa in West Africa would enable us to understand how one groupthe Yoruba of West Africaencounters transcendence and the sacred in practicing their tradition in ways radically different from Western constructions of religion. 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. What we know as African history today is mostly based on the interpretations of our colonial masters. 6. His many publications include African Religions: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2014); City of 201 Gods: Il-If in Time, Space, and the Imagination (University of California Press, 2011); and Kingship, Religion, and Rituals in a Nigerian Community: A Phenomenological Study of Ondo Yoruba Festivals (Almqvist & Wiksell, 1991), which has become a model for ethnographic research among Yoruba-speaking communities. 13. But Ifa divination predates Western modernity. My earlier scholarship was propelled by the insight that the ideology and rituals of Yoruba sacred kingship are what define Yoruba civil religion and, indeed, the center of Yoruba identity.15 Sociologist Robert Bellah understands civil religion as the sacred principle and central ethic that unites a people, without which societies cannot function.16 Civil religion incorporates common myths, history, values, and symbols that relate to a societys sense of collective identity. there is a diversity of religion in Africa; rather, it is the extent of that diversity and the degree to which the term 'African traditional religion' might misleadingly mask both that extent and the mutability of the forms it encompasses. 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. However, the missionaries of the two foreign religions succeeded in converting some African people to the new religions. These oral sources are intricately interwoven into arts, political and social structure, and material culture. Women constitute a sizable number of the devotees of these traditions, just as they do in Islam and Christianity. Ifas religious thought systemfriendlier to Islam than to Christianitynot only predates Islam but also engages Islam in serious conversation. African religions command their own cultural ingenuity, integral logic, and authoritative force. Perhaps this is because the traditional African system was dependent on the oral form of communication. 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. Myths reveal critical events and episodesinvolving superhuman entities, gods, spirits, ancestorsthat are of profound and transcendent significance to the African people who espouse them. 11. Corrupt government officials also capitalize on the generosity of the westerners to the point of looking like a panhandler. Also, about 30 % of the earths remaining mineral resources are in Africa. There are key developmental projects in some African countries that would not be possible without Foreign aids. Unlike the Christian community, recited stories of creation are not performed by a single God, who ordered, by fiat, the creation of the universe with mere spoken words. Long before the arrival of Christianity and Islam, Africans practiced African traditional religion (ATR). The Mursi religion is classified as Animism. This statement isnt true. Despite the plethora of denominations and sects, African religions continue to be viewed as single entities,3 and their (our) religions are perhaps the least understood facet of African life. Another crucial aspect to consider in the comparative study of African religions is the reality of the transfer of these religions across the Atlantic through the Middle Passage and transnational migration and cultural exchange. Some biblical cosmological narratives have parallels in African cosmogony, for example, when the Supreme Being summons the hosts of heaven and declares to them, Come let us make man in our own image. This same script appears in the creation of the Yoruba world, when Olodumare designates to the Orisa (deities), the job of creating the universe. Their many realities that Africans have not been . For example, in many African cultures, intending couples MUST perform both traditional and white weddings. Will OAthers Follow Suit? Another generalization about Africa is that they are all corrupt. In the primordial era, various forms of ethnic indigenous religions spread across the African continent, providing cohesive foundations of nations, peoples, and religious worldviews. Traditional African religions have gone global! 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. As with myths the world over, African mythology includes multiple, often contradictory, versions of the same event. So it is the responsibility of the religious leaders in these . Your email address will not be published. Mary Slessor is accredited to ending this savage act in ancient Calabar, Nigeria. African religions are, therefore, a praxis, and this is where the focus of study should mostly be directed. Indigenous Bapedi music and oral tradition have been dismissed as myth, superstition and primitive stories. .entry-morefrom {display: none !important} Due to the centrality of ancestral tradition to the African lifeworld, death itself is a significant transition from the current life to the afterlife and marks a continuity in life for those living and those to come. First, there is a supreme being who created the universe and every living and nonliving thing to be found within the universe. Just as Muslim traders and sojourners introduced new world religions to North and West Africa, Western traders and missionaries introduced new world religions to the continent. 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. 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. It goes a long way to show that information is power and the way a story is told matters a lot. Such dismissal has been based on the misconception and assumption that indigenous Bapedi . It deals with their cosmology, ritual practices, symbols, arts, society, and so on. There is a general misconception that the entire people of North Africa speak Arabic. About | Commentary Guidelines | Harvard University Privacy | Accessibility | Digital Accessibility | Trademark Notice | Reporting Copyright Infringements In his interview with the New York Times, the theologian said, The days are over when we will be carbon copies of European Christians, Europe and America westernized Christianity. .title-desc-wrapper .post-title {display: none !important} It is also the most diversified continent in the world. Elders, priests, and priestesses have served as guardians of the sacred traditions. Designed by Elegant Themes | Powered by WordPress, HARVARD DIVINITY SCHOOL Through their mixing, a new kind of religion emerged, forming the basis for what we have come to know as African diaspora religion. The African religion was condemned by the Early European scholars, travelers, investigators and missionaries. The west, by trying to learn more about the African tradition will avoid the bias and ignorance of being misinformed. I did ancestry and, This is the genuine list of best African president. 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. There are so many interesting facts about Africa that you dont see every day. 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. Many people have bought into the narrative of African traditional religious beliefs as something untrue and based on delusions, but they have also forgotten that all religions have the same thing in common. Each ceremony denotes passage from one social status to another and is an opportunity to celebrate the initiates on their journey. Africa is the target of western stereotypes. 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. There is a common saying in Africa Dont forget where you come from. Several African countries have good health care systems. 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). 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. As in the Muslim pilgrimage, it is a solemn journey to the hilltop. 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. When it comes to cryptocurrencies, African countries are leading as well. 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. .pagination {display: none !important} It is the religion which resulted from the sustaining faith held by the forebears of the present Africans, Required fields are marked *. Perhaps this is linked to the idea that Africa has an inadequate or substandard health care system. 3. 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. Second, spirit beings occupy the next tier in the cosmology and constitute a pantheon of deities who often assist the supreme God in performing different functions. 53 offers from $9.56. South Africa, as a member state of the World Health Organisation, has been set on the path of institutionalising African traditional medicine. Most importantly, the rite itself should not be condemned together with circumcision or female genital mutilation. The myths held by the west about Africa are mostly founded on misinformation. Many traditional African religions are based on guiding principles that are unfathomable to foreigners, more specifically those with interests such as historians and scholars. Benin Is Getting Back 26 Of Its Looted Artifacts from The Colonial Era. Get it as soon as Wednesday, Oct 26. The term "African Traditional Religion" is used in two complementary senses. There are few religions as globally misunderstood as African traditional religions. Marriage customs in Africa vary from one tribe to another. have recognized the important ways in which "African" and "religion" are western constructs involving both misconceptions and changing perceptions, especially concerning religion (Ray:2000). Women play a key role in the practice of these traditions, and the internal gender relations and dynamics are very profound. 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. Similar to other West African communities, the Yoruba did not reject Western modernity but challenged its claim to ontological and epistemological superiority. Again, this isnt true. 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. 45 Francis Avenue, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138. 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. African countries are also top the list of the 2021 WHO health care index. It was through this encounter that the Yoruba system of banking money in traditional pots kept underground in farms and forests began. Connecting With Your Ancestors (African Spirituality Beliefs and Practices) Monique Joiner Siedlak. Of institutionalising African traditional religions where you come from religion ( ATR ) you dont see every.! Africa that you dont see every day connecting with Your Ancestors ( Spirituality! 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