Myth: Slavery is a product of Western civilization. But this was not an African thing. with Ibramic faiths tends to deprive the African Traditional Religion its true status as an independent religion . 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. It is the foundation on which the morals of pre-colonial Africa were built. Though many Africans have converted to Islam and Christianity, traditional religions still inform the social, economic, and political life in African societies. inadequacies, objections and misconceptions, the practice has come to stay. Kofi Johnson Fayetteville State University kjohnson@uncfsu.edu. The most common African history begins with the colonial era. This is a testament to the strong morals and principles of the African tradition. Several African countries have good health care systems. There are so many interesting facts about Africa that you dont see every day. These traditions are not religious principles, but a cultural identity that is passed on through stories, myths and tales. 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. Myths reveal critical events and episodesinvolving superhuman entities, gods, spirits, ancestorsthat are of profound and transcendent significance to the African people who espouse them. The Hausa man is different from the Igbo man who is also different from the Yoruba man. Indigenous African religions are not based on conversion like Islam and Christianity. Correcting Misconceptions About African Traditional Religions. The oral nature of these traditions allows for a great deal of adaptability and variation within and between indigenous African religions. Indigenous traditions, however, did not capitulate to these forms, but, rather, creatively domesticated the new faiths, absorbing new rituals and tenets into their own belief systems and responding to the exogenous modernity in its wake. Although many African languages do not have a word for religion as such, it nevertheless accompanies the individual from long before his birth to long after his physical death. The story of Mary Slessor and the killing of twins is popular. Divinities and ancestors have personalized annual festivals during which devotees and adepts offer sacrificial animals, libations, and favored foods to propitiate them. It is a well-known fact that religion continues to play a central and vital role in the lives of African people. In the Americas and the Caribbean, it is thought to be a combination of various African, Catholic and Native American traditions. More so, myths encode the traditional settings of the African and their belief system. traditional African takes the character of critical reflection of the African understanding of reality and world view. Myth: Slavery in the non-Western world was a mild, benign, and non-economic institution. Introduction. 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. 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. Here are some 10 myths about Africa and Africans that are either an exaggeration of the fact or based on misguided information. African spirituality more generallyand Nigerian spirituality in particularis shaped by how individuals in their daily existence make sense of their interactions with religious experience. But, the bad eggs seem to get more attention. a. newly birthed babies. In response to this verse, Ifa defines its own pilgrimage tradition in the rituals of the climbing of Oke Itase (Ifa Hill), the home of Ifa, when the Araba of Ifa in quiet solitude leads the devotee to the top of the sacred temple of Ifa. A frica has 54 countries and more than a billion people. Each has a life force but no concrete physical form. Please note: Copyright 2023 President and Fellows of Harvard College. 5. 3. .sqs-featured-posts-gallery .title-desc-wrapper .view-post Its almost as if pre-colonial Africa never existed. 1 While, officially, statistics suggest that African . Portia Zvavahera, Cosmic Prayer, 2019, oil-based printing ink and oil bar on canvas. 15. 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. . 2,269. Benin Is Getting Back 26 Of Its Looted Artifacts from The Colonial Era. Religious contexts are shaped and determined by the identity of these religions. John Mbiti divides spirit beings into two types, nature spirits and human spirits. Your email address will not be published. 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. Temperature varies from one country to another depending on the climate type. However, African indigenous religion has not only succeeded in domesticating Islam and Christianity; in many instances, it has absorbed aspects of these two other traditions into its cosmology and narrative accounts and practices. To each his own. In summary, it is not every part of Africa that is hot. 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 . Africa has 4 main climate zones. Each ceremony denotes passage from one social status to another and is an opportunity to celebrate the initiates on their journey. European theorists are important, and we need to know and understand them to engage in serious global cultural dialogue, but this does not mean that we should discard our traditions as noninterpretive traditions limited merely to ethnographic illustrations. Today, several myths are mixed with facts in describing African traditional religion. Foreign aid has been helpful to many small African countries that are struggling economically. Post-colonial Africa is yet to be completely free from the mental slavery and stereotype created by the colonial masters. 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"). 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. 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. Voodoo has no scripture or world authority. Yes, poverty is an issue in Africa. Check Out Marriage Customs From 10 African Tribes, 15 Tribes With Surprising Bridal Traditions In Africa, 12 Surprising African Countries That Allow Dual Citizenship By Marriage, Can Foreigners Buy Land In Ghana? Especially if you have never been to Africa. Your email address will not be published. On the other hand, the Yoruba people encountered Europeans in dialogue rather than monologue. Photo: Pinterest. 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. An Ifa song warns those embarking on the pilgrimage to be pure and those who possess witchcraft not to embark on the pilgrimage. 7, The Spirits, in his, One must resist the structuralist temptation that views myths as static, unchanging, and simply the productions of a peoples imagination about the cosmic order. Such dismissal has been based on the misconception and assumption that indigenous Bapedi . African people do not worship their deceased relatives or ancestors. . Morocco and Algeria are typical examples of this misconception. c. medicine men and women. The Ndembu tribe of the Democratic Republic of Congo shared a similar belief. 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. These narratives come to us in the form of myths. Unlike its popular usage, in scholarly language myths are sacred stories believed to be true by those who hold on to them. It is a well-known fact that religion continues to play a central and vital role in the lives of African people. In one particular odu of Ifa, Ifa informs us and, correctly so, that the most cardinal event of the hajj is the climbing of Mount Arafat (Oke Arafa). Most are watered-down versions of what was truly a thriving civilization. They counteracted various derogatory names given to AIR. Many foreign nations and organizations do send aid to African countries. This article analyses the legal processes of recognising customary and religious (Muslim) marriages in South Africa's constitutional democracy. In spite of the heuristic value of V. Y. Mudimbes distinction between myth and history in Africa, and by extension the cohesion of oral and written narratives,10 the notion that myth is nonrational and unscientific while history is critical and rational is false. These leaders through greed and corruption ruin the image of their countries. d. politics, everyday life. 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. They include assumptions, misconceptions, traditional or religious beliefs and beliefs about the . .title-desc-wrapper .post-title {display: none !important} Unique Beliefs, and Too Many Misconceptions Traditional native sweat lodge with hot stones inside . When it comes to cryptocurrencies, African countries are leading as well. No. 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. 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;. Humans are thus able to maintain constant and symbiotic relations with their ancestors who are understood to be intimately concerned and involved in their descendants everyday affairs. Significant as these studies are, there seems to be no systematic exploration of African traditions in African American culture.21. . Colonization may seem to be over but for African traditional religion, it is not. Common misconceptions of Africa include the idea that it is behind the rest of the world, lacking in innovative technology. on. African countries are also top the list of the 2021 WHO health care index. 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. Each transition has a function within the society. African Vibes is a one-stop global platform that connects the African diaspora to opportunities for growth, development, and social impact in Africa. Therefore for these people, twins were treasures. As Jaco Beyers puts it, the African understanding of religion is an understanding of the connectedness of all things. Although it is difficult to generalize about African traditional cosmology and worldviews, a common denominator among them is a three-tiered model in which the human world exists sandwiched between the sky and the earth (including the underworld)a schema that is not unique to Africa but is found in many of the worlds religious systems as well. 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