Generally, these traditions are oral rather than scriptural and passed down from one generation to another through folk tales, songs and festivals, include belief in an amount of higher and lower gods, sometimes including a supreme creator or force, belief in spirits, veneration of the dead, use of magic and …
What are the characteristics of African traditional religion?
There have been many attempts at describing African Traditional Religion according to its main characteristics. Turaki (1999:69) lists the following main characteristics: belief in a Supreme Being • belief in spirits and divinities • the cult of ancestors • the use of magic, charms and spiritual forces.
What were the major religious traditions of Africa?
The three main religious traditions—African traditional religion, Christianity, and Islam—constitute the triple religious heritage of the African continent. This heritage, though contemporarily more dynamically evidenced, has a long history and influence.
What is a common belief in most African religions?
What is the most common belief in African religions? The most common belief is that there is a supreme high God that created the world, yet they focus on lesser entities because God is so important and too busy.
What is worship in African traditional religion?
During worship, worshippers seek forgiveness of sin and protection from God and His agents. They also seek material and spiritual blessing. Thus, worship in African religion is to show devotion to God through adoration, admiration, and love for His role in their lives.
Who are the divinities in African traditional religion?
In African cosmology, the belief in divinities—referred to as orisa (among the Yoruba), abosom (among the Akans), and vudu (among Ewe-Fon)—presupposes belief in the existence of supernatural beings or forces that control the affairs of the world.
What is prayer in African traditional religion?
Praying is the commonest form of worship among traditional African peoples. The prayers are usually short, extemporaneous, and succinct, and may be accompanied by sacrifices and offerings. They are mostly requests to satisfy a particular need or to give thanks.
What is Africa’s first religion?
The Story of Africa| BBC World Service. Christianity came first to the continent of Africa in the 1st or early 2nd century AD. Oral tradition says the first Muslims appeared while the prophet Mohammed was still alive (he died in 632). Thus both religions have been on the continent of Africa for over 1,300 years.
What is the oldest religion?
The word Hindu is an exonym, and while Hinduism has been called the oldest religion in the world, many practitioners refer to their religion as Sanātana Dharma (Sanskrit: सनातन धर्मः, lit.
What are traditional beliefs?
A tradition is a belief or behavior (folk custom) passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. … Traditions are a subject of study in several academic fields, especially in social sciences such as folklore studies, anthropology, archaeology, and biology.
How did Christianity spread in Africa?
Once in North Africa, Christianity spread slowly West from Alexandria and East to Ethiopia. Through North Africa, Christianity was embraced as the religion of dissent against the expanding Roman Empire. In the 4th century AD the Ethiopian King Ezana made Christianity the kingdom’s official religion.
Did Africans have a God?
Generally speaking, African religions hold that there is one creator God, the maker of a dynamic universe. Myths of various African peoples relate that, after setting the world in motion, the Supreme Being withdrew, and he remains remote from the concerns of human life.
What was the religion of Africa before Christianity?
OLUPONA: Indigenous African religions refer to the indigenous or native religious beliefs of the African people before the Christian and Islamic colonization of Africa.
What is the name of the African god?
Mlondolozi (also spelled Mlondolozi, Nkulunkulu, and in other variants) is a common name of the creator deity in a number of Bantu languages and cultures over East, Central and Southern Africa.
Does African traditional religion have scriptures?
Since the traditional African religions do not have a sacred text with prescribed doctrines, to study them requires living with the people who believe and practice the religions and reading essays like this one about them.