Serer Religion

The Serer religion is the original religious beliefs, practices, and teachings of the Serer people of Senegal in West Africa. The Serer religion believes in a universal supreme deity called Roog. Traditional Serer religious practices encompass ancient chants and poems, veneration of and offerings to deities and spirits, initiation rites, folk medicine, and a familiarity with Serer history. Subordinate to Roog are lesser gods, goddesses and supernatural spirits or genie. Roog is neither the devil or a genie, but the Lord of creation. Roog is the embodiment of both male and female attributes and continually watches over his children and is always available to them. Roog does not intrude himself into in the daily affairs of humanity. Lesser gods and goddesses, Roog's ambassadors to the physical world, process petty, day to day affairs. Serer peoples possess the free will to either live a good and spiritually satisfying life in harmony with Serer religious doctrine, or are free to ignore these doctrines and pass an unsanctified lifestyle in the physical world. Lawbreakers will be rightfully punished in the afterlife. Immortality of the soul and reincarnation are fundamental beliefs of the Serer religion. The pangool (venerable saints and ancestral spirits) have the power to intercede between the living and the divine. Serer strive to be accepted by departed ancestors so that they can also gain the ability to intercede between humanity and divinity. A failure to be accepted results in rejection by one's ancestors Unsuccessful petitioners are doomed to become lost and wandering souls.