The greatest handicap in the study of African Religion is that it is not a religion of the Book. There are no sacred scriptures, which are regarded as repertoires of authentic beliefs and practices of African Religion as most traditional African Societies did not develop the art of writing. Therefore, in no traditional African society were the tenets of their beliefs found collected and preserved in any written form. However, Africans are very deeply religious.
Religion permeates every aspect of their life and Leonard, attests to this fact when he writes that Africans:
Eat religiously, drink religiously, bathe religiously, and dress religiously. In fact, all that was sustaining or weakening in African life, has been anchored in religion whether it be the individual’s relationship to the family, the clan and tribe or morality, law, worship, politics, social status, economics, etiquette,
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wars and peace, so that the source of African religion is the whole of African life.
Nevertheless, non-literate African societies have institutionalized devices for preserving and transmitting their norms, beliefs, and traditions in three broad groups. Every African Society has a set of beliefs, which deals with religious ideas. Beliefs are essential part of religion handed down from generation to generation with modifications. Without them, no religion can inspire its adherents. These beliefs are expressed in religious objects recovered from archaeological excavations or contemporary works of arts, shrines and sacred places and some of them belong to individual families, while others are community owned ones. In almost all parts of Africa, the sacred shrines and sacred places are highly respected by the people and no one touches them unlawfully.
Some of the religious shrines and places are fabricated, while others are natural places and priests are chosen to look after them. The shrines, actor, and priests are monuments of religious art whose structure and furniture reflect the belief and worship performed in them.
In these shrines and other sacred places are found mud ancestral spirits, men, and animals.
For example, image of Eshu (the trickster deity), Legba (the mischvious spirit of the Dahomeans), Ala (the great Earth-mother deity), and Amadioha (the thunder deity of the lgbo) are found in these shrines and sacred places. Religious objects and articles are also found in African Society. Some of them are tied round on people’s right arms, legs, and waists; while others are kept in the pockets, bags, house roofs, and gates leading into the homes.
Some people swallowed them or dug the ground to bury them for protection against the evil forces and enemies. The sacred art forms are the creation and dedication of the works of arts, which serves as invaluable source of religious beliefs in African Society. Bascom, noted that the art forms recovered from archaeological excavations provide a wealth of information on the people’s past and contemporary religious beliefs, and could permit us to know if the present beliefs are developments from the past or a complete break from them. He states that:
Most African sculptures appear to have been associated with religion, which pervades most aspects of African life. The religious genres included, votive figures, which adorned shrines, stools used in initiation to the cults, the apparatus for divination, dance staff, musical instruments and variety of other ritual paraphernalia.
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These art forms served as valuable sources for the study of African religious beliefs and practices found in every society of Africa.
The Physical Sources
Since Africa was largely oral and had no written record, the question then had been where we can gather facts from which we can bring out the teachings and concepts of African religion. The following gives us a wide array of physical and oral sources.
Shrines and Sacred Places
These places are connected with the worship of the divinities. They could be found in the homes where family religious rituals are conducted or in the grooves that are normally hidden to the uninitiated. These places are important because religious concepts could be expressed through them.
Music, Dance and Drama
Africans are dancing people and their religion is usually embedded in religious festivals, rituals, and ceremonies. The religious music, dance, and drama are powerful media of communication especially in the traditional societies. The Africans sing and dance out of religious feelings. Thus when people participate it serves as an outlet for their religious feelings.
Religious Articles and Objects
Indigenous religion does not frown at the use of religious articles and objects. These include objects worn round the neck, waist, on the arms and the legs. The importance of these objects lies in the fact that these religious articles and objects help the researchers to peep into the concept behind the objects.
Art Works and Symbols
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Different categories of art works could be invaluable sources of religious beliefs. They provide a wealth of information on the past and present religious beliefs of the people. These include wooden and clay sculptures found in the family shrines and general shrines and grooves. These simple cultic objects and symbols could throw more light overall complexity of beliefs and practices connected with their use.
Religious Specialists or Cultic Personnel
Religious specialists or cultic people are found in every society. They know a lot about rituals, ceremonial and religious maters. They include medicine men, priests, rainmakers, diviners, musicians, and artisans. Each one of these people is a trained specialist in their profession and in most cases highly experienced. A lot can be collected about African religion from these sets of people.
Non-Physical Sources
Myths
Myths are source material for the beliefs of African peoples in pre-literate times.
Malinowski in Ikenga-Metuh (1969) calls it the “pragmatic charter of primitive faith and moral wisdom”. Herman Baumann after studying about two thousand five hundred African myths concluded, “a myth is the clear presentation of the outlook of people living in communities. It is their objective and permanent philosophy of life”. Bascom (1969), who has done an extensive study of Yoruba oral verses and belief systems, is of the view that Yoruba myths are serious items of belief to be distinguished from ordinary folktales. According to him:
Legends and myths both of which are called “Itan,” are regarded as history that is believed to have happened, while the latter “Alo” is regarded as fiction.
Myths about deities were formerly matters of faith, “a sacred tale” believed to have happened. Diviners describe all lfa divination verses as “itan”, myths.
Malinowski posited that the traditional lslanders whom he studied clearly distinguished myths (Liliu), from both folktales and legends. Fouktales he noted are told for entertainment,
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and legends are supposed to recount unrecorded history of the group. He therefore defines myths as “acred tales which are told when rite, ceremony, or a social or moral rule demands justification, warrant of antiquity, reality, and sanctity.” Myths do tell us a lot about a people’s worldview including their religion. A people’s understanding of their environment, their geography, history, medicine, social organization, and religious ideas could be easily revealed in their myths. Some of these myths are popular stories and could draw from facts and ideas familiar to the people.
These facts enhance their values as vehicles of a people’s religious beliefs, since such beliefs could enjoy an appreciable degree of authenticity. In this context, myths could serve as an indispensible means of conserving, preserving, and transmitting religious beliefs.
Besides, there are some myths, which are creeds or esoteric ritual formulae. These also enjoy a high degree of authenticity because they are learnt and recited like prayers. The study of myths is therefore, essential for the understanding of religion in traditional African Societies.
Parrinder, views the African myths as vehicles of future scripture of African religion.
For Africans to record the myths they help to reveal the African’s own thoughts about religion, life, and so, with illustrations of art, this begins to provide the basis for a scripture of African religion.
Theophanous Names
Names are another important source of African Religion. For Africans, as for the Romans “Nomen est omen”-a name is an omen. There is a story conviction that there is a close connection between a person and his name. A name expresses a person’s personality and in some circumstances, some identity between a person and his name is recognized.
According to ldowu, “name” represents character and the essence of personality as among the Hebrews. It is generally believed that if a person’s real name is known, it will be easy to bless the person, or harm him by magic. Anozia asserts that the name for lgbos is an expression of that which it stands for in the sense that it should suffice to have the name to know, that which goes by it.
In other words, the name gives us an ideal or some notion of the nature of that which it represents. Names often represent the most cherished thought in the mind of the giver at the time the name is given. The genius, achievements, and philosophy of life of some great man can sometimes be in the names they give to their children. Many African societies distinguish
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three types of names. The first groups that may be called Natural Names are names deriving from the circumstances of birth. The Igbo call these “Aha-omumu” (names from birth). The Yoruba call them “Amutorunwa” (names brought from heaven). The Tiv call these “ati a mav” (names of birth). These may be just names of the day of the week on which the child was born or they may be derived to have influenced the birth of the child. For example, the first of the twins among the Yoruba is named Taiwo; the second is called Kehinde. The name Taiwo means “He who came to taste the word”.
The names expresses the Yoruba belief that the first of the twins is actually the younger, and he is sent out first by his elder brother to ascertain if the world is habitable before the latter comes out. The second group of names could be called “Given Names”. The Yoruba call them “Abiso” (Conferred names). The Igbo call them “Aha okpensi” (names given before the ancestral shines), The Tiv call these “ati-a naan”(the given names). These names are the free choices of parents. The third group of names is those chosen by the bearer himself/herself or given to him/her in recognition of his/her achievements or his/her status.
Among some South African peoples, they are called “Izibongo” (praise names). The Izibongo of chiefs portray their achievements and exploits. Every African Male on attainment of manhood chooses for himself greeting name, which usually expresses his philosophy of life aspiration.
Many African names commemorate historical events in the family or country. Names may also express parents’ state of mind, their anxieties, joys, fears, and hopes; others are affirmations of religious beliefs, or expressions of prayerful wishes. Some names reaffirm philosophical, moral or religious truths, which the parents may have experienced, and now hold very dear, so that in pre-literate societies, names are records, living personal memories of persons and events. There are names based on concepts and values dearly held by Africans, important subjects of life and death, fortune and misfortune, on family and social relationships, and on moral and ethical values. A collection, classification, and analysis of these names will help in the study of African Religion.
Proverbs
Proverbs are short sayings, full of sense, which has come into common and recognized use. African Society has a rich store of proverbs in which are enshrined an ancient wisdom, beliefs and accumulated experiences of past generations. The value of proverbs is that they are sources of material for religious beliefs of non-literate peoples. Proverbs spring
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spontaneously, from the people and are “vox populi” (the voice of the people) in the profound sense and therefore, should be accepted as a true index of what a people regard as true, and are interpretative of their principles of life and conduct. Proverbs are consequently trustworthy witnesses of the social, political, ethical, and religious ideas of the people among whom they originated and circulate.
The use of proverb is cultivated as an art and cherished as an index of good oratory and acquaintance with traditional knowledge and ancestral wisdom. In some cultures of Africa, like the Zulu, Ovambo, Akan, Igbo, Yoruba among others, proverbs give us great insight into the people’s beliefs. The Zulu people for example, say, “without proverbs, that language would be but a skeleton without flesh, a body without soul.” The Yoruba would say proverbs are “horses for chasing missing words”. The Ovambo have it that “a speech garnished with proverbs parables and wisdom sayings are pleasant to hear”. Proverbs, the Igbo would say. Is palm oil with which words are eating? Another Igbo proverbs claims that “a child who knows to use proverbs, has justified the dowry paid on his mother’s head”.
In African Society, proverbs are the mark of wise man, for says a Tiv proverbs;”if you talk to a wise man in proverbs, he understands, but if to a fool he flings them into the bush”.
Rattary has collected thousands of proverbs of the Akan people of Ghana, and found out that proverbs give us meaning into the people’s beliefs. Proverbs refer to other objects of religious beliefs and practices as well as ethical and moral principles. Many of these proverbs describe one or other of the many attributes of God in the people’s beliefs. Some describe his power, his transcendence, his mercy, his care for his creatures, his lordship over the universe, and his divine providence, while many proverbs affirm some moral attributes of God, God’s mercy, his goodness, his justice and uprightness. The themes of some proverbs include the deities and their relationship with man. The analysis of some of these proverbs reveals not only their meaning but also the wealth of religious beliefs, concepts, and values contained on them.
There are hundreds of such proverbs in different African Societies.
Prayers
Prayers are religious activities and they contain a lot of information on religious beliefs.
Prayers in Africa are usually made to God, the deities and the ancestors. Through prayers, one can see man’s dependence on God and the belief that God has the ability to meet man’s need being expressed.
65 Sacred Institutions
There are many sacred institutions on African Society, which have the imprint of traditional religious beliefs and practices. Some of these institutions are hedged round with certain beliefs, rites, observances, or taboos, which are inspired and sustained by firmly held religious beliefs. They include the sacred kingship, the priesthood, chieftaincy tittles, initiation rites, festivals, and so forth. I in some parts of Africa, the Golden tool” linked with the sacred kingship shows how the knowledge of a people’s institution can give us an insight into the vast resources of their religious beliefs and traditions. It also shows how ignorance of the beliefs and the traditions, which surround them, could bring about disaster of great magnitude. (The “Golden Stool” of Ashanti kingdom for example, was a symbol of embodiment of the “Soul of the nation”, and not just a symbol of royalty.
The king as the occupant or sole trustee of the stool represents all those who have occupied the stool before him. The dead, the living, and those yet to be born of the tribe are regarded as members of one family. Thus, Ashanti people regarded the stool that binds as symbol of unity that binds the family together. The “Golden stool”, is a demonstration of how belief linked with an institution as pointer to the different ramifications of the traditional beliefs of a people.
Oral Tradition
African Religion is essentially oral tradition. The absence of the art of writing has made it necessary to employ oral traditional as a means of preserving and transmitting cherished traditional religious beliefs and practices. Forms of oral tradition include; myths, legends, folklore, proverbs, names, riddles, prayers, stories and formulae of invocations, blessings or curses. The reliability of these forms of oral traditions as vehicles of authentic beliefs of the peoples varies. Some of them are religious by nature and they contain religious beliefs, morals, and warnings, while others are symbols representing kings. The condensed and memorized forms like proverbs, names, sayings, or the famous Ifa divination verses which diviners used are said to memorize as they were handed down from time immemorial, are certainly more reliable than myths, legends, folktales, sayings and daily speech which are susceptible to changes and sometimes have discordant. Here, we shall make analysis of the use of myths, names, proverbs, and prayers as sources of traditional beliefs to illustrate the value of oral traditions.
66 4.0 CONCLUSION
In this unit, you have been introduced to African Traditional Religion. You have studied about the problem involved in defining African religion, the obstacles to the study of African Traditional Religion, the basic rules for the study of African Traditional Religion and sources from where data concerning the religion could be found.