World Religions, Sixth Edition Warren Matthews Chapter Two: Religions of Africa This multimedia product and its contents are protected under copyright law. The following are prohibited by law: any public performance or display, including transmission of any image over a network; preparation of any derivative work, including the extraction, in whole or in part, of any images; any rental, lease, or lending of the program.

Religions of Africa  Ancient Egyptians of the Nile River – pyramid builders and inventors of hieroglyphics, believed in complex souls and divine pharaoh  Basongye of the Congo – farmers and fishermen who viewed earth as a flat circle between water and sky, believed god was in control  Zulu Peoples of South Africa – cattle ranchers who believe that religion and life are one, that all life has religious significance  Yoruba Peoples of Nigeria – farmers as well as traders who live in urban areas, believe that spirits and ancestors are active in their lives

Modern Africa, Home to Many Religious Traditions

Ancient Egypt  Egypt is one of the founding sources of civilization  Written records in Egypt begin around 3100 BCE  Egypt centers on the Nile  Urban habitations clustered around Nile  Farming and fishing provided sustenance  Pyramids and other buildings show early skills

Nile Centers of Ancient Egyptian Civilization

Ancient Egypt  History  Long periods of internal development interspersed with chaos and external conquest  Written records date back to 3100 BCE  For over 2,500 years, various kingdoms and dynasties ruled, imposed their beliefs, and led to a more national view  From 1100 BCE on, the people were subject to foreign conquest

Ancient Egypt  Ancient Egyptian religion was polytheistic  One exception was seen during Early New Kingdom  King Akhenaton proclaimed monotheism, later his son-in-law, Tutankhamen, Egypt returned to polytheism  Gods were represented in the forms of animals, human beings, or combinations of the two  Temples served as locus of reverence to gods  Sky, sun, earth, and Nile conceived as a unit characterized by regular cycles

Characteristics of Divine/Mythic Figures  Egyptian worldview  Dependability was emphasized  Unity was expressed in service to the patron deity  Life, and life after death, were large themes in Egyptian religion  Mummification  Ka was a spiritual form that mirrored the body and needed to be maintained in afterlife  The dead were later judged

Tomb of Nektamun

Ancient Egypt  Egyptian gods  Story of Isis and Osiris  Reflected self-renewing vitality in nature  Represented key tale for Egyptian religious  Horus – son of Isis and Osiris, symbolized as a falcon  Hathor – goddess who created the earth  Mayet – goddess of order and truth, and judge of the dead  Bast – cat-headed goddess of joy and fertility

The Sphinx and the Pyramids of Giza

Basongye People of the Congo  Basongye  In eastern part of Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire)  Hunting and farming society

An Efe Man of the Congo

Basongye Worldview  Earth regarded as a flat circle resting between subterranean waters and the waters of the sky  Gods  Efile Mukulu – a beneficent deity, seen as rarely intervening in earthly affairs  Kafilefile – a maleficent deity, understood to have left the earth, leaving an evil influence in his wake  A person is essentially their kikudu, or spirit, to which their body is subordinate

Basongye Worldview  Ancestral spirits are active and usually beneficent in human affairs  Witches and sorcerers have magical powers  Witches threaten human well-being  Sorcerers can identify the cause of people’s deaths  Mankishi figures and sacred masks are used magically to influence weather or attack others

Zulu Peoples of South Africa  Reasoned system explains how powers of universe affect their lives  Patterns of individual, family, and kraal (community) life are reflected in views of the universe  As there is a hierarchy of heaven, so there is a hierarchy on earth  As there are rules for dealing with human powers, so there are rules for dealing with spiritual powers  Traditional rituals and customs maintain the vital balance among the living and their relationships with their ancestors and deities

Zulu Peoples of South Africa  Zulu people live in kraals, or circles of houses  They do some farming and keep cattle  Circles dominate Zulu architecture  The kraal as a community is circular  Each house in a kraal is circular  Cattle corrals are circular

Zulu Peoples of South Africa  Each house has an umsamo, a place place to honor and consult with the ancestors  The male head of family leads in dealing with the ancestors  The kraal also has an umsamo  The chief officiates and is responsible for keeping the ancestors happy  Zulu rites of passage mark birth, puberty, marriage, and death

Zulu Divine/Mythic Figures  Izinyanga zezulu – storm herders who serve the sky god  Inkosazana – the Princess of Heaven, sends rains for crops and protects women and children  Inkosi Yezulu – the Lord of the Sky, sends thunder and lightning  Creator deity – a being who is remote from human life on earth

Traditional Rondoval Houses and Cattle Kraals of Zulu Village

Role of Ancestors in Zulu Society  Ancestors of the kraal intervene in their descendants’ lives  Ancestors communicate with diviners through dreams or visions  Failure to maintain a proper relationship with the ancestors can result in the increased power of witches to attack people

Yoruba Peoples of Nigeria  Yoruba religion channels spiritual energy for beneficial results  Deities, ancestors, and spirits all intervene in human lives  Communal festivals and sacrifice maintain good relationships among these figures and human beings  Orishas are intermediary deities of spirit and human worlds  Divination allows human beings to know their fate  Olorun/Olodumare determines fates of all persons at creation  Ife, the central Yoruba city, is where creation began

Yoruba People of Nigeria  Ase – divine energy  Oba – community chief who conducts religious rites  Elegun – a medium who can be possessed by divine powers  Oloogun – a medical expert who can diagnose illness and prescribe treatments  Egungun – masked dancer who represents ancestors at communal festivals

Common Features of Indigenous Religions in Sub-Saharan Africa  Not animistic but hold various beliefs in a deity who rules over a hierarchy of gods  World filled with energies that can be used benevolently or for harm  Good relations between humans and spirits necessary to well-being  Spirit or soul is essential part of every human and disassociates from the body after death, belief in an afterlife  Personal destiny uncovered with the help of deities, divination useful  Masks and symbols are salient elements of religious life

Yoruba Head Mask with Crown