The traditional religions of Africa are human in the deepest sense, because they focus on people and their everyday problems. It all depends on the time of the year. 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. Static.COOKIE_BANNER_CAPABLE = true; On the other hand, countries like South Africa, Morocco, and Tunisia sometimes experience snowfalls. Africans combine a belief in the existence of a omnipresent and omnipotent supreme god, with multitudes of subordinate deities. The orthodox Easternize it. Your email address will not be published. The myths held by the west about Africa are mostly founded on misinformation. It is misleading to say "Africa" when speaking about a specific tribe, ethnic group, or country in Africa. Because it enables us to theorize questions of syncretism and hybridization and, more importantly, raises the issue of why African religion is flowering and spreading in the Americas, especially in the United States, while it is declining in Africaa phenomenon that we need to understand. Africa has 4 main climate zones. With exception of those who take history classes, the majority of young Africans will fail to elaborately tell the story of their origin. 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. 10. African traditional religion (ATRs) and spirituality have always been surrounded by negativity. 2. The culture believes and traditions of the people of Africa is vast and should not be oversimplified in a stereotypical way. African religions, religious beliefs and practices of the peoples of Africa. It is not unusual to see people living below the poverty line in nearly every country on earth. 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. Once again, this is far from the truth. c. medicine men and women. Mursi girl in Ethiopia. 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. These can be found all over the Americas and Europe. It was just the belief of a few groups of people known as Efik people, the predominant tribe in Calabar. Introduction: Some Standard Misconceptions There have been widespread misconceptions about the African Traditional Religion (hereinafter ATR). African religions should be studied on their own terms, examined through their own frames rather than set in a Judeo-Christian framework. a. newly birthed babies. It goes a long way to show that information is power and the way a story is told matters a lot. 4. Misconception 1: "Entire North Africa natively speaks Arabic.". Oct. 24, 2019. An example of data being processed may be a unique identifier stored in a cookie. Though many Africans have converted to Islam and Christianity, traditional religions still inform the social, economic, and political life in African societies. African people do not worship their deceased relatives or ancestors. John Mbiti in his book African Religion and Philosophy, argued that African Religion deserves the same respect as Christianity, Islam, Judaism, and Buddhism. Many economic forecasts predict the rapid growth in the African Market. 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). Perhaps this is because the traditional African system was dependent on the oral form of communication. Esu was represented as a stone mound in the front yard of ancient Yoruba compounds. 9 years ago. 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. Yet in the scholarship on the history of religions, indigenous African religions were never considered a substantive part of the worlds religious traditions, because they failed to fulfill certain criteria defined by axial age civilization. Privileged European scholars denied the agency of African religions and singled outand thereby controlledAfrican identity. Mudimbe's . It is also the most diversified continent in the world. Thus, I have argued that religion should be examined not only as a sacred phenomenon, but also as a cultural and human reality, all the while remembering the importance of integrating the sociopolitical dimensions of religiosity into any examination of an African state. John Mbiti, chap. First, there is a supreme being who created the universe and every living and nonliving thing to be found within the universe. Gradually, many Africans began to buy the narrative. 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"). As with myths the world over, African mythology includes multiple, often contradictory, versions of the same event. However, some African nations have become addicted to these aids and seem unable to function without them. The terms 'traditional' and 'religion' (in its singular form) have each been targets of criticism. Africans engaged Western enlightenment and religious traditions in serious dialogue and conversation, and responded by creating and interpreting their own modernity. .title-desc-wrapper .view-post {display: none !important} The diversity of Native American religions could fill whole libraries with descriptions of belief, tales of lore, definitions, explanations, and insights into spiritual practices and ceremonies. 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;. 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. Some of our partners may process your data as a part of their legitimate business interest without asking for consent. It argues that the best interpretation of the Constitution requires laws that address cross-cutting issues of recognition and redistribution relating to religion/culture and gender, and that the best . As Jaco Beyers puts it, the African understanding of religion is an understanding of the connectedness of all things. They counteracted various derogatory names given to AIR. What, for example, is the notion of history and the sacred in Akan thought? So, why was it the negative stories about killing of twins that were promoted? 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). It is the religion which resulted from the sustaining faith held by the forebears of the present Africans, An example is the Ancient Benin Kingdom, known for its impressive artwork which is now scattered across the world. 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. Even within a single ethnic group or clan, there are often highly contested and even opposing stories or viewpoints when it comes to creation accounts, thus allowing for flexibility and hermeneutic creativity. This action will also remove this member from your connections and send a report to the site admin. So it is the responsibility of the religious leaders in these . As in the Muslim pilgrimage, it is a solemn journey to the hilltop. That is why they have developed institutions for healing, for commerce, and for the general well-being of their own practitioners and adherents of other religions as well. Finally, it suggested that Afrocentric terminologiesis . The stories of violence, kidnapping, religious and political war in Africa are so common. All Religions has truth hidden in them for those who objectively seek them through the path of the religion. In these times of intense turmoil, people of African descent are facing serious threats and challenges to their well-being. In summary, it is not every part of Africa that is hot. Little wonder John Mbiti, a famous African theologian said, Wherever the African is, there is his religion. Today, several myths are mixed with facts in describing African traditional religion. Its almost as if pre-colonial Africa never existed. MISCONCEPTION OF THE SUPREM BEING IN ATR There have been widespread misconceptions about the African Traditional Religion (hereinafter ATR). 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. God is the first Initiator of a people's way of Life, its tradition. At the same time, forms of orature such as the Ifa tradition amongst the Yoruba, can form important sources for understanding the tenants and worldview of these religions that can serve as analogs to scriptures such as the Bible or the Quran. . 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. 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. 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