African Traditional Religions
A short overview of the many Traditional Religions practiced among people of differing cultural, linguistic, and ethnic groups; gives names for the supreme deity in many African languages; part of a larger site on polytheism.
Ancestors as Elders in Africa by Igor Kopytoff
Ancestor cults loom large in the anthropological image of Africa, but only certain dead with particular structural positions are worshipped as ancestors; this paper presents a study of ancestor and elder veneration among the matrilineal Suku of south-western Congo (Kinshasa).
The Ga Homowo Festival by A.B. Quartey-Papafio
Originally published in the Journal of the African Society, Vol. 19, in 1919, this essay describes the religious customs of the Ga people of Ghana as they existed independently of Roman Catholic influence.
African Spirituality Versus the African American
Ideas and issues for African Americans considering the practice of West and Central African Traditional Religions.
The African Experience of God through the Eyes of an Akan Woman
By Mercy Amba, an article in Cross Currents, the journal of the Association for Religion and Intellectual Life.
Man and the Gods in Yoruba Art
An exhibit of Yoruba religious art, with brief explantions of the iconography of the deities depicted.
Yoruba Religion
A brief introduction to the religion and rituals of Yorubaland.
West African Cosmogony
Origin Myths of Mande, Yoruba, and Cameroon.
Voodoo in Benin, 1996
In 1996 the government of Benin declared that Voodoo and other ATRs (practiced by about half of the population) are officially recognized religions on a par with Islam and Christianity, and gave ATR its own national holiday, January 10.
West African Dahomean Vodoun
Large site created by an African-American Priestess, to initiate others across the diaspora. Site features both Dahomean Vodoun and Mami Wata traditions of West Africa, with articles on these and other ATRs in Benin, Togo, and Ghana; bibliography; links to related pages.
Akan Cosmology and Symbolism
This site describes Akan cosmology and illustrates it through traditional Akan religious symbols, each of which encodes within its graceful lines a theological or moral belief or lesson. The integration of this rich traditional Akan symbolism into the Roman Catholicism of Ghana is shown, as well.
African Traditional Religion
Although there are cultural variations in belief among Africans, author Kwabena Dei Ofori-Attah believes they are not strong enough to blur the common strands that give Africa its distinctive religious character.
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