Portal:Traditional African religions/Introduction

Intro

A wooden Nommo figure of the Dogon or Tellem people of Mali, believed to be made in the Mopti Region between the 11th and 15th century. The figure is now housed at the Brooklyn Museum, The Adolph and Esther D. Gottlieb Collection. This human form with raised arms is very common in Tellem sculptures symbolizing prayer for rain.

The beliefs and practices of African people are highly diverse, and include various ethnic religions. Generally, these traditions are oral rather than scriptural and are passed down from one generation to another through narratives, songs, and festivals. They include beliefs in spirits and higher and lower gods, sometimes including a supreme being, as well as the veneration of the dead, use of magic, and traditional African medicine. Most religions can be described as animistic with various polytheistic and pantheistic aspects. The role of humanity is generally seen as one of harmonizing nature with the supernatural. (Full article...)

While adherence to traditional religion in Africa is hard to estimate, due to syncretism with Christianity, Islam, and Judaism, practitioners are estimated to number over 100 million, or at least 10 percent of the population of the continent.

African diasporic religions are also practiced in the diaspora in the Americas, such as Haitian Vodou.

"African traditional religion is inextricably linked to the culture of the African people. In Africa religion has been understood as an integral part of life in which every aspect was knit together into a coherent system of thought and action, giving significance and meaning and providing abiding and satisfying values. Religion, culture, politics, and society were part of a seamless whole and no part of it could stand on its own.

The absence of a specific word for "religion" in many African languages is an indication of this African holistic understanding of life. Words related to the concept of religion may be translated as "customs," tradition," or "way of life.".

Source : "The Oxford Handbook of Global Religions", (Editor: Department of Global and International Studies University of California Mark Juergensmeyer Professor of Sociology and Director, Santa Barbara), p. 537, Oxford University Press, USA (2006), ISBN 9780199727612 [1]