African Religion

Over 100 million people are adherents of traditional religions in Africa. As ethnic belief systems, a person must typically be born into a particular African tribe or people to become a practitioner. African traditional religion shapes the character and culture of Africans. It is pragmatic in nature, addressing everyday needs as they arise and offers believers a sense of stability and security. When Africans become converted to another religion such as Christianity or Islam, they do not immediately abandon their traditional religions, but rather blend their traditional religion with the newly embraced religion. There are more similarities than differences among traditional African religions. Beliefs and practices are based on oral traditions, rather than religious principles. Cultural identity is preserved and transmitted through stories and myths. 

Complex animistic beliefs form the core of traditional African religions. This includes the worship of tutelary deities, nature worship, ancestor worship, and belief in an afterlife. Some regional variations adopt a pantheistic worldview with a supreme creator god in nominal control of subsidiary gods and spirits. This supreme god is not monotheistic like the God of Christians and Muslims. Other variants follow a purely polytheistic system comprised of roughly equivalent gods, spirits and other supernatural beings. Traditional African religion embraces elements of totemism, shamanism, and the veneration of relics. 

African traditional religious consists of the rituals, ceremonies, and festivals of the people that commemorate birth, the giving of names, circumcision, initiation rites, marriage, funerals, harvest festivals, and the assurance of adequate rainfall. Religious festivals are accompanied by songs and dances that perpetuate spiritual knowledge. Religious concepts are also contained in proverbs, riddles, and wise sayings. There are proverbs that speak of God, human relationships, the nature of humanity, and the nature of animate and inanimate objects.  

African religion features shrines and sacred places such as graves, caves, rocks, hills, mountains, and trees. It employs amulets and other magical objects that are tied around the neck, legs, and waist, are kept in pockets and bags, and are placed on gates or upon the ground. Theological and mythological ideas are represented by symbols of insects, birds, animals, trees, and distinctive colors. These symbols decorate wood carvings, stools, calabash (a traditional magic pot that represents the cosmic womb), bones, sticks, vessels, handcrafts, and the skin of domestic animals and humans. Africans give their children theophoric names which embed the word equivalent of a god that, ideally, forms and reflects the character of the named person and their relation to a particular deity. 

Most African religion expresses faith in a singular overarching God, multiple lesser gods, spirits, the sanctity of human life, magic, witchcraft, and an afterlife. Traditions emphasize correct values and morals such as truth, justice, love, the difference between right and wrong, respectfulness, decency, honoring agreements and promises, and personal and tribal integrity. Religious officials include priests, rain makers, ritual elders, diviners, medicine men and women, and kings and other rulers. 

The supreme god is spirit, and not a human being. He is invisible and unknowable to humanity. God is uncreated and eternal but is the creator and sustainer of everything. He is omnipotent (all-powerful) and omniscient (all-knowing), yet he sees, hears, smells, tastes, eats, sleeps, plays, walks, rejoices, gets angry, thinks, and remembers good and bad deeds as if he were a human. Although the creator god remains detached the universe and the mundane affairs of this world, Africans seek his aid when they are in trouble to restore their peace, health, happiness, and security. Ancestor spirits serve as the intermediaries between deities and humans. 

Two types of spirits are human spirits (those who died long ago and are forgotten or those who died recently) and created nature spirits. Nature spirits dwell in forests, trees, waterfalls, uniquely shaped rocks, caves, villages, hills, and mountains. Nature spirits also inhabit animals like snakes, goats, bulls, tigers, giraffes, and baboons. Nature spirits are easily recognized. Examples are the Bantu thikoloshe, a malevolent mythical manlike animal, and the Zulu mamlambo, a large snake-like creature that is the goddess of rivers.  

Different things are done to protect people from the spirits. The spirits are both honored and feared, and nothing is begun (a job, schooling, a marriage, or a journey) without first consulting the spirits for permission or approval. Spirits have the power to overcome illness, inadequate harvests, accidents, family conflicts, and wars and can facilitate perilous events such as childbirth. Human effort is required to secure the goodwill of the spirits and to ensure that they are not offended or neglected. Contact with the spirits can be established through trained or gifted human intercessors, via a shamanistic trance, through mediums, diviners, and fortune tellers, and ritualistic offerings. Traditional healers usually prescribe plants and herbs to cure illness.

The most effective way to contact the ancestral spirits is through sacrifices performed either by the head of the family or by an aunt. Items sacrificed include meat, the blood of animals or humans, and homemade beer. Surviving descendants are uncertain whether their ancestors will work for their harm or their good, so it is important to appease them. Ancestors may cause sickness or difficulties in a family or tribe which require the intervention of a diviner or medium. Misfortune is typically the result of improper conduct, disrespect for traditional customs, or neglecting to honor the ancestor spirits.

According to African traditional religion, there is no break between life and death. After a person dies, a ritually correct funeral must be organized to prevent the soul of the deceased from wandering about and becoming a ghost. The destination of the dead varies among tribal belief systems. Some believe that souls linger in the neighborhood. Others believe that the dead inhabit forests, lakes, hills, rivers, and riverbanks. Many believe that there is a land of spirits in the underworld or under the ground. A common belief is that the dead inhabit a place that is like this world where they lead similar lives. The dead cease to exist in the afterlife if no one remembers them. In African traditional religion there is no heaven or hell. As outcastes, witches and sorcerers are not permitted to enter the spirit world. 

Magic is a key component of African Religion. White magic is used by traditional healers to discover the source of evils and to offer an afflicted person protection against their enemy. Happiness, harmony, health, and wealth can be restored using magical bangles, powders, tattoos, and leather necklaces. Black magic is used to cause harm to others and is practiced by sorcerers and wizards. Despised villagers are frequently accused of witchcraft. Evil can be countered by proper care of one's hair and nails, not hanging clothes outside to dry at night, avoiding the use of certain words or phrases, not visiting certain places, and not eating food or receiving gifts from certain persons and families. 

Divination is used to gain an understanding of reality in the present and to predict future events. There is not a single African technique of casting divination. A variety of methods are used depending on local customs. The practice of casting may be done with small objects such as bones, cowrie shells, stones, strips of leather, or flat pieces of wood. The traditional healers of South Africa perform divination by reading bones. Some castings are done using sacred divination plates made of wood or are performed on the ground, often within a circle. In traditional African cultures, many people consult diviners on a regular basis, and the practice is not prohibited. Diviners, or priests, are also sought for their wisdom as counselors and for their knowledge of herbal medicine. 

African diaspora religions, also described as Afro-American religions, are several related beliefs that developed in the Americas in nations of the Caribbean, Latin America, and the Southern United States. They derive from traditional African religions, but are influenced by other religious traditions, most notably Christianity and Islam. Afro-American religions practice ancestor veneration and recognize a creator deity attended by a pantheon of divine spirits such as the Orisha, Loa, Vodun, Nkisi and Alusi. In addition to the influence of Western and Middle Eastern monotheistic religions, diaspora religions can include elements of indigenous New World folk religion, Native American religion, Spiritism, Spiritualism, Shamanism, and European folklore.