Traditional African religion is a catch-all term for the ethnic and folk religious traditions of the peoples of Africa (especially Sub-Saharan Africa), often involving syncretism with other traditions, especially Christianity and Islam.
Due to the vast scope and diversity of Sub-Saharan African ethnography, there is no single uniting aspect of traditional African religion beyond what is culturally universal of pre-modern religion worldwide, i.e. aspects of oral tradition and animism.
Read more about Traditional African Religion: Classification and Statistics, West African Religious Tradition, Deities, Practices and Rituals, Duality of Self and Gods, Virtue and Vice, Religious Offices, Holy Places and Headquarters of Religious Activities, Liturgy and Rituals, Mythology, Religious Persecution, Misleading Terms, Traditions By Region
Famous quotes containing the words traditional, african and/or religion:
“There are two kinds of fathers in traditional households: the fathers of sons and the fathers of daughters. These two kinds of fathers sometimes co-exist in one and the same man. For instance, Daughter’s Father kisses his little girl goodnight, strokes her hair, hugs her warmly, then goes into the next room where he becomes Son’s Father, who says in a hearty voice, perhaps with a light punch on the boy’s shoulder: “Goodnight, Son, see ya in the morning.””
—Letty Cottin Pogrebin (20th century)
“If your buttocks burn, you know you have done wrong.”
—White South African proverb.
“The proper office of religion is to regulate the heart of men, humanize their conduct, infuse the spirit of temperance, order, and obedience; and as its operation is silent, and only enforces the motives of morality and justice, it is in danger of being overlooked, and confounded with these other motives.”
—David Hume (1711–1776)