African Religion
Vodoun is the heritage of the ancient Africans nations that were exiled in
the New World. Its ways have been born throughout the darkest times by our
forefathers in order to teach us how to live today and tomorrow. Vodoun is
more than one thing, it is medicine, justice, police, it is art, dance, music
as well as religious ritual. It is the common ground upon which we, the children
of the African New World Diaspora, stand together. It is perfectly ordinary
to be Vodoun without being religious as one can be Jewish and agnostic. So
much so that in Haiti, the use of the word Vodoun (or voodoo, vaudou, vodu
etc.) is a sign of alienation. My ambition is to show the breadth and diversity
of our Vodoun soul. Not an easy task away from the cool shade of a mango
tree in a warm Caribbean afternoon. We will start with the obvious, the rituals.
Be aware that in Haiti alone there are many ways to celebrate the invisible,
and what I present doesn't pretend to universality. Let us start with the
basics, with Bondjé, Lésen, Lézanj we will get through
this.
Vodoun songs are the walls, carrels and books of the great Vodoun public
library in that we don't just let them be stored and retrieved occasionally,
rather we live them, we live in them and we live through them. Ask any question
of one the Vodoun people and he or she is liable to answer with a song. Snippets
of songs are in ordinary conversations, even songs that other cultures would
call "sacred" songs. Not that these songs are not sacred to us, but the particularity
of Vodoun Culture is that there is no clear division between the sacred and
the ordinary, whether in time or space. Instead we have "Régleman",
and régleman rules the religious or ritualistic aspect of Vodoun Culture.
A case in point is Lapriyè, the ritual prayer that opens a ceremony
in its long or short form (a 5 minutes to 5 days span). That is Régleman
in its purest form. There is a precise, pre-ordained manner to conduct a
ceremony (within each ounfò tradition of course) and every member
of the community knows it. The religious feeling stems out of following the
Régleman, the only true, if invisible, church of Vodoun.
It is in the dance that Vodoun touches most closely to the mystical, for
every motion that the dancer performs is a magical metaphor for the invisible
world, and it is no wonder that spirits arrive most often during the dance.
For the divine recognizes itself and is drawn into the eternal movement of
the dance.
The Vodou Religion
In Vodou both man and cosmos are considered to be of two natures: half-metaphysical,
half-material. The symbol of the cross (fig. 1) is often used to show how
these realms reflect each other in the mirror which is the horizontal arm
of the cross. "Sound the mirror!" is a formula repeated over and over in
the liturgy of Vodou, a call to its devotees to ponder and plumb its deepest
secrets.
The concept of the soul can be expressed as "that in a man who is capable
of surviving physical death." Much of the dialog of religion over the millennia
has been concerned with the human soul: whether soul or souls exist, their
nature, their stages of development, their fate, their relationship to God
and to other metaphysical beings, and their relationship to the individual
lives of people. In traditions derived from Africa the existence of various
spirits including the souls of man is a matter of direct experience. The
presence of spirits is encountered frequently through the experience of "possession"
which is enacted in ceremonial. These ceremonials in their symbolism also
outline a path of development by which souls either return to the general
psychic circulation of the community, or in rare cases, become divinities,
individualized spiritual presences that are permanent as long as they are
"fed" by the community.
Though we might want to think of these ceremonials as dramas, it would be
a mistake to think that the participants are only play-acting. To witness
ritual possession, or to experience its onset, leaves the unavoidable impression
that something very real and very profound is taking place in the psyche
of the possessed. Perhaps the possession-drama is similar to what takes place
in the best performances in Western theatre, when the actor as is said "becomes
the role." But true possession goes much further than this since the entire
personality of the person possessed abandons its body, its "horse." The very
different personality of the spirit that replaces it as master of the horse
then manifests spontaneously as an actor in the present moment.
African Myth & Religion
Many of these religions are an integral aspect of their storytelling traditions
and also contain descriptions of the basic archetypes, arranged in identifiable
structures. This may manifest, as a belief in ancestor worship, nature and
spirit deities considered responsible for the human condition, some being
"life-enhancing" while others are "life-consuming". Great nature is freely
worshipped as the Supreme Being who controls the destiny of human evolution,
animals, plants and fluctuations in climate. In some regions the idea of
a "Great Spirit" (Creator God) had emerged, who was usually associated with
the sun, moon, sky, rainbow, or lightning. For some Africans the power or
omnipotence of that God enabled him to create the first man and woman while
others consider God to be responsible for all things visible and invisible.
The spirit-beings are often symbolically connected with their own particular
views of Heaven and in various mythological accounts united with a Primal
Earth God or Goddess. This polarity indicates a belief in the Supreme Being
as being bi-sexual, androgynous or hermaphroditic. In other areas beliefs
in sacred spirits of sea, lake, mountain, earth etc have long been venerated
by the indigenous peoples. Evil or bad circumstances are invariably attributed
to demonic spirit forces but are more usually credited to the earthly activities
of witches, shamans, and wizards. Possession by these spirits is attributed
to and directly responsible for any antisocial or violent behavior and consequently
exorcisms and purifications are widely practiced. The application of magic,
consultations with witch doctors or priests and divination is also widely
accepted and accepted as everyday events. It is presumed that demons can
be coerced or manipulated to reveal some aspect of the future or directly
affect the outcome of a set of circumstances. Talismanic magic is also considered
efficacious and widely practiced, protective charms and amulets are considered
to have a direct influence on the well being of an individual. Sacred shrines
and burial places likewise have a special importance in their religious beliefs.
Like the North American Indian tribes, African tribes revered their own intermediary
totemic spirits associated with the protection and guardianship of any particular
clan calling upon them to carry the thoughts and wishes of the tribe to their
ancestors or the Supreme Creator. Prayer and communion are essential elements
of religious worship with a local village medium acting on behalf of the
community. The medium usually adopts a trance state using either dance, music
or chanting or speaking simply from the heart to convey the message from
the ancestors. Likewise people seek out professional mediums to convey their
own personal message and wishes to their gods or ancestors who are propitiated
i.e.: bribed with lavish gifts and offerings
Many of these tribal communities also believed and practiced the institution
of Divine Kingship whereby their own rulers or kings were imbued with the
qualities of a god or were themselves semi-divine beings and therefore the
representatives of a particular tribe or people. There is a clear belief
in the afterworld, reincarnation and the transmigration of souls from one
dimension into the other and that their ancestors could assume an earthly
existence and that similarly that a human being could attain the qualities
of an ancestor or immortal being after they had died. Death was therefore
viewed paradoxically not only as the termination of life but more importantly
as a gateway into another world.
EXAMPLES OF AFRICAN RELIGIOUS BELIEFS:
1. The Dinka of Sudan 2. The Kimbu of Tanzania 3. The Yoruba of Nigeria 4.
The Shona of Zimbabwe
The religion or worship of Nature Spirits is more highly developed in northeast
Africa while fetishism though widely practiced gradually changes into idolatry
as one travels into the southern regions. Everything in the African World
is full of inanimate and animate spirits who are obedient to the will and
magic of sorcerers, witches and shamans. While every clan or family performs
regular worship or ritual to its' own ancestors and institutes its' own taboos.
The souls of their dead are frequently believed to inhabit the bodies of
living animals, plants, trees, mountains etc. The Zulus for example refrain
from killing certain types of snakes, which they consider, are the embodiment
of their ancestors. They believe also that evil spirits can take possession
of the living.
The Yoruba, one of the oldest intact belief systems in Africa, believe that
each person has at least three spiritual entities. Firstly there is the breath
spirit or "emi" which resides in the lungs and heart and is constantly fed
by wind from the nostrils. This is the vital force, just as fire is fed by
the blacksmith's bellows, this emi endows us with the ability to walk, speak,
hear etc. There is a shadow spirit or "Ojiji" which follows its owner like
a dog and when we die awaits our hopeful return to heaven. Finally there
is a guardian spirit, often referred to as the "Eleda" or "Ori" which has
to be nurtured through occasional sacrifice and rules our head region - perhaps
another term for conscience. After death the "eleda" travels to the portals
of heaven and confesses to the Supreme God Olorun who decides accordingly
whether we should go to Orun Rere (Good Heaven) or Orun Buburu (Bad Heaven).
High crimes and misdemeanors or simply wickedness consist of crimes such
as theft, murder, cruelty, and misuse of witchcraft, poisoning and slander.