African Traditional Religions

1. Ancestral Worship

Ancestor Worship, reverence granted to deceased relatives who are believed to have become powerful spiritual beings or, less frequently, to have attained the status of gods. It is based on the belief that ancestors are active members of society and are still interested in the affairs of their living relatives.

The cult of ancestors is common, although not universal. It has been extensively documented in West African societies (the Bantu and the Shona), in Polynesia and Melanesia (the Dobu and the Manus), among several Indo-European peoples (the ancient Scandinavians, Romans, and Germans), and especially in China and Japan. In general, ancestors are believed to wield great authority, having special powers to influence the course of events or to control the well-being of their living relatives. Protection of the family is one of their main concerns. They are considered intermediaries between the supreme god, or the gods, and the people, and can communicate with the living through dreams and by possession. The attitude toward them is one of mixed fear and reverence. If neglected, the ancestors may cause disease and other misfortunes. Propitiation, supplication, prayer, and sacrifice are various ways in which the living can communicate with their ancestors.

Ancestor worship is a strong indication of the value placed on the household and of the strong ties that exist between the past and the present. The beliefs and practices connected with the cult help to integrate the family, to sanction the traditional political structure, and to encourage respect for living elders. Some scholars have also interpreted it as a source of individual well-being and of social harmony and stability. Because it is practiced by family groups, ancestor worship excludes proselytizing and rarely involves a separate priesthood. It has no formal doctrines and is ordinarily an aspect of some larger religious system.

2. Creation Stories in Africa

Creation Stories, myths that explain the origin of the universe, or cosmos. The origin of the cosmos forms one of the principal themes of mythology throughout the world. Most mythologies view the process of creation as belonging to the distant past. Some mythological traditions, however, present creation as a continuing cycle of birth and destruction, as in Hindu tradition or in the belief of the native peoples of Central America in the so-called Five Suns that governed successive worlds (see Hinduism; Pre-Columbian Religions).

Students of mythology often draw a distinction between creation myths proper, or cosmogonies, and myths of origins. Cosmogonies tell how the cosmos arose or was created from a primal state. Myths of origin explain how later features of the known world—such as human beings, animals, and the social order—came into being. In practice, however, stories of origin usually represent continuations of a cosmogony, recounting the further development of an original creative act.

Most creation stories assume the eternity of matter or even of the world itself. However, these myths hold that the world in its precreation state was uninhabitable

and must be organized either by the action of cosmic forces or by creator deities. Certain images of the primal, or precreation, state of the universe are common to a number of mythological traditions. Some myths represent the primal state as a void. Others depict it as a chaos of indistinct elements. Still others present it as a primeval sea, or as a cosmic egg containing all things in embryonic form.

Some creation myths reflect the environmental circumstances of a particular culture. For example, in Mesopotamia, located between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, a dependence on irrigation systems and the perpetual threat of flooding were a pervasive feature of life. Accordingly, the action and control of the waters played a major role in the mythology of Sumer, an early Mesopotamian civilization. In Sumerian mythology, the primeval sea, personified by the goddess Nammu, is the source of the gods and of the cosmos. When the gods decide to destroy their human creations, they do so by sending a flood (see Ancient Middle Eastern Religions; Deluge).

Creation mythologies explain the actual formation of the world by a variety of processes. These processes include the sacrifice of a primal being (for example, a giant or serpent); a struggle between supernatural powers; the blending or coalescing of elements, particularly water and earth; the incubation of a cosmic egg; and the uttering of a divine word. In myths that credit primary creation to gods, such as the Greek deities Uranus (sky god) and Gaea (earth goddess), these deities often become hazy, remote figures in later mythology, and stories often recount their overthrow by their own offspring. For example, in the Greek tradition, Zeus succeeded his father Cronus and grandfather Uranus to become ruler of the gods (see Greek Mythology).

Many mythological accounts ascribe creation to impersonal agents rather than to individual deities. In some African traditions, a cosmic egg hatched to release spirits called Nommo, who then set about the creation of mankind. In Egyptian mythology, both personal and impersonal creative forces came into play: Elemental energies were personified by four divine couples who fused to form the cosmic egg, from which the sun god was born. In later Egyptian mythology, the sun god became identified with the figure of Ra, a deity who gave rise to a pantheon of high gods (known as the Nine Gods of Heliopolis) through self-fertilization (see Egyptian Mythology). Many mythologies include similar stories of self-fertilization by a creator deity, whose offspring then give birth to other gods, creating a pantheon based on incestuous family relationships. The most famous such line of descent occurs in Greek mythology, in which Zeus begets offspring by many goddesses and mortals.

Many creation myths focus on the idea that primal elements were separated or made distinct from one another during the act of creation. In ancient Egyptian mythology, creation began when a mound of land first distinguished itself in the midst of the primal waters. In the biblical Genesis story, Yahweh's creation of the world is described mainly in terms of separating—for example, the separation of light from darkness, and of sea from land. In other creation mythologies, the raw material for making the world derives from a specific source. A widespread Native American myth tells of the descent into the depths of the ocean of a so-called earth-diver, an animal—often a turtle—who brings back mud from which the world is fashioned (see Native American Religions). In Indian Vedic tradition, the body of the primordial man, Purusha, is dismembered to provide material for the world and everything in it

(see Veda). A similar theme occurs in the Norse myth in which the primal giant Ymir is killed by Odin and his brothers, who then make the sky from his skull, the earth from his body, and the sea from his blood.

Cosmogonic myths generally culminate in the creation of humankind, after which the mythic cosmos comes to resemble the world of human experience. In mythic history, the earliest era of the world is usually the closest to perfection—a Golden Age or Garden of Eden—with later phases showing the progressive degeneration of the world as it grows more distant from the original creative impulse. The earliest humans are often thought to have been of extraordinary stature and longevity and to have been much closer to the gods than are the humans of the present day. In many traditions the story cycles associated with demigods and heroes are an even richer source of myth than those involving the gods themselves. Such myths enable the listener to recall the time of creation when the world was in its infancy.

3. Totemism

Totemism, a complex system of ideas, symbols, and practices based on an assumed relationship between an individual or a social group and a natural object known as a totem. The totem may be a particular species of bird, animal, or plant, a natural phenomenon, or a feature of the landscape with which a group believes itself linked in some way. The term totem is derived from the language of the Ojibwa, a Native North American tribe.

The totemic relationship is widespread and has been observed in Malaysia, Africa, and Guinea. It is especially strong among some Native Americans and Aboriginal Australians. In these societies, the totem is often regarded as a companion and helper with supernatural powers and as such is respected and occasionally venerated. The individuals of a totemic group see themselves as partially identified with or assimilated to the totem, which may be referred to by special names or symbols. Descent may be traced to an original totemic ancestor, which becomes the symbol of the group. With the exception of some totemic rituals, killing, eating, or touching the totem is prohibited. Individual shamans (see Shaman) have been known to cultivate a personal friendship with a particular totemic animal or plant.

Few anthropological concepts have undergone such radical change as that of totemism. Most of the theories about this phenomenon propounded in the 19th and early 20th centuries have been discarded. Totemism is no longer regarded as a religion, much less as an early stage in the religious and cultural history of the human race. It is admitted, however, that a totemic relationship may involve some religious elements, such as the cult of ancestors and the belief in spirits (see Animism). The current skepticism about totemism in anthropological literature is exemplified by the French anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss's theory that totemism is an anthropological concept having no objective reality.

The basis of totemism seems to lie in the world view of some societies that assume a specific relationship between human beings and the powers of nature, a relationship that serves as the foundation for a classificatory scheme. Totemism may thus be interpreted as a conceptual device for sorting out social groups by means of natural emblems. Furthermore, some scholars point out that when different social groups

within the same society draw their names and identities from plants or animals, these totems serve as symbolic devices showing that society, although divided into many groups, still remains a whole. Totems identify and symbolize a group that shares common interests—particularly an interest in the protection of kin members—in societies that have no other agency or mechanism for performing this function. Recently, some anthropologists have argued that Australian totemism, because of its taboos against killing and eating one's totem, has acted as a conservation device, helping people adapt to their natural environment. Totemism would, in this interpretation, have an ecological significance and would thus have played an important role in the development and survival of those societies in which it flourished.