Ch. 3 Indigenous Religions of Africa Flashcards
Amma
the High God of the Dogon people.
example of a deity who is distant from the lives of ordinary humans; retired from the earth and left lesser deities to manage earthly affairs and attend to human interests.
made the earth out of mud and clay.
bori
a term for West African spirits who have the power to possess people.
Candomble
New World religion with roots in West Africa - particularly Yoruba culture - which is prominent in Brazil
slaves would cloak the orisa in the guise of Catholic saints to hide their religion from European slave masters
dama
a Dogon rite of passage marking the transition to adulthood and to the afterlife.
happens only once every several years in which masked participants dance to usher the recently deceased into the world of spirits
a successful dama frees the living from misfortune caused by the spirits of the dead and restores the normal balance of life and death.
divination
the attempt to learn about events that will happen in the future through supernatural means
used to communicate with spirits
ex. Ifa
Ifa
the divination system of the Yoruba religion, believed to be revealed to humanity by the gods
was developed when the High God left earth and his children remained behind. he gave them divination to be able to communicate with him.
Kinjiketele
the leader of the Maji Maji rebellion in Tanganyika (Tanzania)
was believed to have received communications from the spirit world.
a spirit took him into a river pool, emerged completely dry and carried a message to his people that their dead ancestors would all come back.
medium
a person who is possessed by a spirit and thus mediates between the human and spirit worlds.
most likely a woman.
Maji Maji
a 1905 rebellion against German colonizers in Tanzania; Germans won.
many people came to Kinjiketele and to take the sacred water, which they believed would make them impervious to the bullets of the Europeans.
moran
a young man in Samburu or Maasai culture who has been circumcised and thus has special cultural and religious duties.
responsible for protecting the community and for herding the cattle and other animals.
Odu
the original prophets in Yoruba religion, gifted with the ability to look into the future
orisa
term for lesser deities in Yoruba religion.
believed to inhabit an otherworldly realm called orun.
live in an hierarchical social order that closely reflects Yoruba social organization.
Oshun
a Yoruba goddess; known as the “hair-braider” and is powerful in this ability to make people beautiful.
associated with fertility and the life-giving properties of water.
pantheon
a group of deities or spirits.
large and complex
rites of passage
rituals that mark the transition from one life stage to another
