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The nature of African religion
Yoruba people and culture
Role of religion in society
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Religion is meant to be recognized heard and understood and Yoruba is of those religion. Yoruba is a religion of understanding, growing and seeking. In this paper the religion Yoruba will be dissected to better understand it.
Yoruba originate in West Africa, Nigeria and from there it was well known and practiced by many. Currently there are 25 million members of this religion in West Africa alone. This religion was introduced to many different countries and islands through the transatlantic slave trade. Yoruba became a popular religion soon after in many countries and became known by different names, such as Santeria (Brazil), or Lukumia and Regla de Ocho (Cuba), Candomble (Brazil) also known as Shango in Trinidad etc. Not these countries
Which leads humans to a new birth, but with birth comes forgetting your old self. A main belief in yoruba is that when one is reborn that are given a new destiny and as one grows up they have to attempt to discover what destiny you chose at birth. When reborn one of your many souls is given to Olodumare the god that is known as the “ Owner of the Sky” gives you a new breath of life, where he allows you to choose a your destiny in life. Then we are put on earth and set off on a quest to “find ourselves”. While we are trying to find ourselves we receive help from Orishas “ special human beings” known as babalawo “men of secret and iyawos “women of secrets. Despite the meaning of their names they are not given the power to dispense any secrets of wisdom themselves. Theses people are a form of priests and diviners, who are place on earth to lead human beings in the way of harmony while on their journey. Orishas are believed to be very well connected to the gods and their religion. As Orishas they are required to know a variety of many different scriptures by memory in order to divine to the believers issues or communicate with the
Olodumare is the god of the sky he is believed to rule over the cosmos from up high, he is also described as remote, distant and difficult to approach. Although he rules of the cosmos and is consider owner of sky he is not a main god in this Yoruba. Eshu and Orunmila are the gods that people truly look up they up to. Eshu is known “deliver sacrifices from earth to orishas and other spiritual beings” and Orunmila is believed to deliver the heavenly messages to humans. The form of communication between the gods a so important that it is believed that without these interaction human existence would spin out of chaos. In this religion it is made clear quickly that in order to survive the journey of life you must communicate with the
The Yoruba religion was brought to the Hispanic Caribbean approximately four hundred years ago by African slaves during the period of conquest and colonization of the new world. The religion remained traditionally strong among the African community until the Spanish conquerors began to prohibit its practice. When the Spaniards reached the New lands they brought with them the religion of the reigning King. That is Queen Isabella's religion; Catholosism. The conquerors forced the slaves to accept the Catholic faith as their new religion. The African, stripped already of their dignity refuse to give up their religious beliefs, this belief being all they brought with them. Knowing of the negative ramnifications, punishment and sometimes even death if caught "devil worshipping" it meant that in order to continue to worship theri Gods the angry Africans had to find a way to practice thier religion. They astutely hide theri religion behind Catholic religious practices and saints.
When ancient people look to understand religion, it is easier for them to relate to a higher power, also known as a god. Throughout the world and through time, there have been hundreds of different religions that have been established, and in the writings by people of these various groups there are often stories about conversation with the gods. This helps other people in understanding and conforming to the same beliefs. Two of such examples of this style of analyzing what gods are, are found in St. Augustine’s Confessions and The Bhagavad Gita.
The Yoruba people, who were brought over from Nigeria as slaves, came to the Caribbean in the 1500’s with their own religion, which was seen as unfit by the white slave owners. Most plantation owners in the Caribbean were members of the Roman Catholic Church, so they forced their slaves to disregard their native religions and become Catholic. Soon, the slaves realized that they could still practice their West African religion as long as it was disguised as Catholicism, and Santería was born. Now it’s practiced in the United States, Cuba, the Caribbean, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Nicaragua, Argentina, Colombia, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Great Britain, Canada, Venezuela, and Panama.
Modern practitioners of Santeria may be attracted to the religion for a variety of reasons, notable among which are curiosity with secret rituals and the longing among many immigrants and people of color to get in touch with Caribbean and African roots. What each specific individual wants from a religion is difficult to generalize upon, but Santeria offers a way for people to achieve harmony in their lives through communication with and obedience to orishas, the divine beings that act as intermediaries between humans and the Supreme Being, Olodumare. Santeria teaches how to know and appease the specific desires of a pantheon of orishas who alert devotees to problems in their lives and protect them from harm. In addition to a distinctive and demanding set of rituals that requires a commitment of time and energy from believers, Santeria offers a rich history and a supportive community that make it a way of life and not just a passive belief structure that bears little relevance to the daily life of its adherents.
Christianity has the same concept where there are entities who are usually known as angels. These angels are considered god's army and constantly are perceived as protectors of individuals or families. Together, the three Gods used the lesser spirits to be their messengers and servants. Next, they created the world to be a kingdom for the gods.
The first way traditional spirituality is shown is through Legba. Legba is an Igbo American visiting his grandparents in Lagos. He spends his time in a Cyber Café with his cousins participating in Nigerian Internet Fraud, 419. He gave himself the code name “Legba” because Legba is the “Yoruba trickster god of language, communication, and the crossroads” (194). He didn’t think he would be caught because “who would suspect an Igbo guy who was American using the name of a Yoruba god?” (195). He thought he was in the clear from being caught since he was an American man with religious names. However that was soon going to be the least of his worries. The room suddenly shook and everything came tumbling down. As Legba was pinned under rubbish he noticed something massive coming through the hole in the wall where the door used to be. Legba suddenly realized it was Ijele, the Chief of all Masquerades, Igbo royalty. Legba said, “One of the greatest spirits of Nigeria had come. While the alien was speaking, we were focused on our own things, on getting what we could get” (199). Legba is saying there were too caught up in their own world to realize everything that was going on in Lagos. But by the Ijele coming, he was woken up. He said, “I will never practice fraud again. Never. I swear” (199). The traditional spirituality of Legba and the Igbo people came to
Throughout the twentieth century, Rhodesia from 1960’s to the late 1970’s have always been in a struggle to fight for their independence. They had to deal with the British colonist that settled into their land and had taken over control of the country for the past couple of years. Due to the decolonisation of African countries after the second world war it gave many influences and reasons for Rhodesia to search to become an independent country. That all changed when they fully receive their independence in 1980 and during that time they fought for the control of their country, Rhodesia. The name was later changed to Zimbabwe due to a revolutionary struggle they had in their country. The battle to govern Rhodesia and also by the agreement of the Internal Settlement between the fighting forces to find and create peace
Uganda is a nation located in Southern Mid-Africa, and is ruled by Lt. Gen. Yoweri Kaguta Museveni. The LRA, also known as the Lord’s Resistance army, is a rebel group active in Uganda and the countries around it and was originally created by the woman Alice Lakwena (Lakwena). The group was known as the Holy Spirit Movement then and was mainly created, because Lakwena stated that she had a dream where the Holy Spirit told her to overthrow the Ugandan government, whom were mistreating the Acholi people in Uganda at the time. The movement gained much support and when the Ugandan government won a battle between the movement and itself Lakwena was exiled. This was when Joseph Kony (Kony), stepped in saying he was Lakwena’s cousin and that he was taking over. Kony renamed the movement the LRA, but due to particularly violent tactics many people began to leave the LRA and it was rapidly losing support. This then led the LRA to start using child soldiering, and raid many villages and kill or mutilate many people. Despite what some people believe, the LRA is still a deadly group that uses child soldiering, and human trafficking and continues to threaten Uganda and its neighbors today.
Class played a major role in the development of African history in the twentieth century. Specifically, class differentiation contributed to the political movements and social disparities that characterized the continent during the time period.
Religion and the Igbo People The Igbo are a profoundly religious people who believe in a benevolent creator, usually known as Chukwu, who created the visible universe (uwa). Opposing this force for good is agbara, meaning spirit or supernatural being. In some situations people are referred to as agbara in describing an almost impossible feat performed by them. In a common phrase the igbo people will say Bekee wu agbara.
To colonize the land of Nigerian tribal people or any other lands in the world, the British wisely used religion as a tool of invasion. Though the process of spreading Christianity took longer time than war and killing, the attack on belief and spirituality made the native people completely submit to the new government which generated and supported the religion that those people followed. In fact, the British missionaries succeeded in convincing the Igbo people of the new religion despite the Igbo’s conservativeness and extreme superstition.
The majority of the Yoruba people live on the west coast of Africa in Nigeria, but can also be found in many other places, as they are one of the largest cultural classifications in Africa. There are approximately 40 million Yoruba world-wide. As a matter of fact, most of the slaves brought to America were Yoruban, and descendants of their tribes can be found everywhere, including Europe, Brazil, Cuba, and the Caribbean. The Yoruba have been constructing and thriving in sophisticated urban kingdoms for more than 1,500 years, and have produced extraordinary art work since the 5th century BC.
http://moodle.oakland.k12.mi.us/internationalacademy/pluginfile.php?file=%2F68302%2Fmod _ folder%2Fcontent%2F0%2FAfrica%20Essay%2FAchebe%20Interview%20An%20African%2 20Voice.docx&forcedownload=1>. Arinze, Francis A., and Kalu Ogbu. The "Igbo Religion" www.ic.galegroup.com.
The country of Uganda is a British colonization that began in 1860. Originally, Britain and Germany shared the country but a treaty was signed giving Britain the right to control all of Uganda. In 1962, Uganda received independence and an internal legislative government. When their independence was received A. Milton Obote declared himself the prime minister of the country.
Kaduna: Baraka Press, 2004. Magesa, Laurenti. A. African Religion: The Moral Tradition of Abundant Life. Nairobi: Pauline Pub., Africa, 1998. Mbiti, John S. Introduction to African Religion.