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Two Worlds
Religion in Africa is not a discreet human activity,
separate from other aspects of living. This is in contrast to many branches
of Christianity, where the spiritual is separate from the physical, and heaven
is entirely separate from earth. In African traditional religion, as in many
other ancient belief systems in other parts of the world, religion, or the spiritual
permeates every aspect of life.
LANDSCAPE
The landscape is a source of spiritual contemplation
and worship. The Gikuyu of Kenya, for example, pray facing Mount Kenya. The
Shona, of Zimbabwe, have sacred hills and caves. The Lugbara and Langi, both
from Uganda, venerate sacred rocks. The landscape may also be populated by many
spirits, some good some bad.
  ANCESTORS
The ancestral spirits also mediate between this
world and the spirit world. They play a large part in most cultures, are easily
accessible, and generally considered to be benevolent. When alive these ancestors
led lives judged to be honourable and well respected. They are well placed to
give advice and warnings. They are, in many ways, as real to the people who
talk to them, as the living.
ILLNESS
Illness is a particular area where the physical
and spiritual meet. There is no fixed demarcation between body and soul. Interestingly,
this holistic approach is beginning to be rediscovered in the industrialised
countries of the West and America.
In Africa illness may be treated with herbs very successfully. But often it
will have a spiritual dimension. It may be seen as a punishment from God or
the deities, or it might be the result of ill will from an enemy. In this case
some form of spiritual power will be needed to combat it; a medicine man or
woman will then be consulted.
WITCHCRAFT
There
is a common belief that if the illness has been brought about by an enemy, then
the likelihood is that the enemy consulted a witch. The concept of witchcraft
is a complicated one. People judged to be witches are usually women. They are
outsiders; they may be very old, or very ugly, without children or family. They
may admit to witchcraft, they may not. The point is they are seen as a threat
to the community.
The
issue is obscured by a belief that the witch not only operates secretly at night,
she may not even know that she is a witch. It's hard to get a fair trial once
accused of witchcraft. In northern Ghana, there is a home for women accused
of witchcraft. They are protected there from their accusers, but in one sense
they are prisoners.
 Listen
to the son of the Chief of Gambaga in northern Ghana, explaining trial by ordeal
to establish if a woman is a witch or not
ACTS
OF CREATIVITY
Every
individual has the power to commune with divine beings through prayer and sacrifice,
but the well being of each individual is tied up with the well being of the
community. Theatre, dancing, singing and music are communal forms of religious
expressions. They may act as a prelude to war, celebrate a good harvest, mark
a birth, a marriage, or a death.
Equally, works of art have traditionally had a religious significance. With
the coming of Europeans, an element of satire and comment began to infuse the
work of wood carvers, and the performance of dancers and actors. Europeans were
mimicked and made fun of.
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