African Shapes Of The Sacred Essay

Within many known religions, the devotional practices has been known to acquire great importance. The essence of practicing what you preach has scolded many religious groups, introducing true beliefs, righteousness, and a wider connection to the supreme being . In the book entitled “ Living religions” by Mary Pat Fisher, clarified and firm descriptions were introduced about religious rituals. Surprisingly; the author utilized small parts of modern concepts, limiting the reader from a full comprehension of religious practices today, therefore; I will only discuss the basic and traditional rituals. To elaborate; in this paper, I will be providing an opinionated but also, comparative description of the major practices and rituals that undergo in both the Abrahamic and indigenous religions.

Culture is the characteristics of a group of people defined by language, cuisine, religion social habits music and art. There are many different types of culture including western culture, eastern culture, African culture and many more. Culture is influenced by the groups of people that make up the country (Zimmermann, 2012). The term culture was first used by an English Anthropologist named Edward B. Tyler. It was first mentioned in 1871 in his book named ‘Primitive Culture’. He stated that culture is "that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society”. Since then culture is the main focus of anthropology.

From the 1500s to the 1700s, African blacks, mainly from the area of West Africa (today's Senegal, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Gambia, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Dahomey, Togo, Nigeria, Cameroon, and Gabon) were shipped as slaves to North America, Brazil, and the West Indies. For them, local and tribal differences, and even varying cultural backgrounds, soon melded into one common concern for the suffering they all endured. Music, songs, and dances as well as remembered traditional food, helped not only to uplift them but also quite unintentionally added immeasurably to the culture around them. In the approximately 300 years that blacks have made their homes in North America, the West Indies, and Brazil, their highly honed art

Through his slave narrative he paints a clear descriptive picture of African culture, including customs of clothing, food and the respect paid to the dead as well as religious customs/ practices. He compares the inhabitants of Eboe or as we know it Nigeria to the early Jews. He also offers his theory that dark African skin is a result of exposure to the hot and tropical climates. In this his also hints that Africans may be the indirect relatives of Christian Europeans because of their Jewish ancestry and argues against slavery. He stands firmly

The Catholic Church allowed ethnic associations – Cabildos – to form and develop, wherein African dancers worshiped before Catholic images, mostly the Virgin

Many tribes in Togo practice animism, which is similar to idolatry, where a religion is made praising an inanimate object and proclaiming that the object has a soul and is and all-knowing being. The Ewe people worship Ibeji, which is a statue depicting two twin gods, and instead of directly worshipping the gods, the Ewe worship the statue of these gods as a way to reach the gods.

Consider how Africa’s geography has changed over time. What positive and negative effects would these changes have had on human populations on the continent? As their new homes changed they were able to adapt due to their innovative mindset. This can be attributed to the new found organization thanks to language. Allowing Africans to grow and expand throughout the entire continent. Other factors that can be attributed are the change in geography for some parts such as the Sahara drying out and swamps and lakes disappeared.

The Africans who came to America had a myriad of religious beliefs and practices, including the belief in a transcendent, benevolent God who created the universe and was its ultimate Provider1 and though Europeans did not introduce the God of the Judeo-Christian ethic to Africans, 2 seemingly intractable problems have faced those con tending that African religious beliefs and practices survived both the "Middle Passage" and the effects of slavery.

The ritual, which is often composed of a series of words and actions, does not only have a direct significance to the survival and psychological growth of human beings, but plays a crucial role in alleviating poverty and promoting the development of the whole society as well. Studying ritual in Black religion including traditional religion, Islam and Christianity can profoundly help us to understand this culture and increase the sense of identity. This essay will look at the role of ritual in Black religion from the perspective of the literature. The History of Ritual in African Society Long time before landing in North America, ritual had already been an important element of African culture and they always performed it in the form of singing

The African tradition started way back when the slaves were brought over. While working in the fields, the slaves would sing and dance. They thought by singing and dancing, it would help them to keep their connection with Africa. The Catholic Priests tried to demolish anything which resembled “Devil Worship.” Traditions which the Africans brought over, the priests wanted to get rid of. That is not how the African tradition is, their religion is danced and celebrated. One big element which caused problems, was the drum. The Europeans were afraid of the power the drums had on the dancers.

Throughout history people have came across so many historical artifacts that could potentially give the viewers a piece of information of the time period and an outlook of what the artifact could have be used for. There are many collections of artwork from many people, cultures, and different use of medium like paintings, sculptures, wood cut, etc. One in particular is the subject of a figure, possibly male, carved as a handle of axe with intriguing designs of lines and shapes, the axe seemed portable to be use for an individual. This art piece is called Ritual Axe, created by Yoruba people in Owo, Nigeria, during the late nineteenth or early twentieth century. An axe is a tool to use for chopping or cutting objects, usually axes is made in simple design but the Ritual Axe is could have been used for other purposes. The Ritual Axe is symbolic representation of what the Yoruba people believed in as a way to increase their chance of survival.

African art has played an important role in the culture of the world. The sculpture is the most common traditional culture expression for the African art. The different sculptures are shown by their local styles and they serve for the specific functions, such as religion. From some of these old art pieces, we figure out this kind of traditional culture expression already existed in the African for such a long time. In this paper, the art piece I am going to analyze is the Female Figure with Child and it made by Akan-Asante people. The Akan people of Ghana have been recognized for their various and attractive culture and it located in what are today Ivory Coast and the republic of Ghana in Western African. The Akan people are combined by different groups, such as the Anyi, Akawpim, Akyem, Aowin and Asante, and these people have their own dialect, but they share a lingua franca, which called Twi. The sculpture I choose could effectively reflect its own distinctive culture, because of the social connection reflect on the royalty, the comparison with other local art pieces, like Akuaba fertility dolls and its specific art form.

The question that motivates this article would be what are the color classifications of Nembu’s rituals? Nembu gives us the primary colors of white, black and red to symbolize African rituals dealing with their significance, symbolism and relationships. The novice interpretation of the colors tells us that white symbolizes goodness, life, purity, generosity, maturity and to be free of ridicule. Red symbolizes blood from the animals, family members, murderous crimes, and witches, it also can represent illness. Black symbolizes death, disease, night and sexual desires. The main argument for this reading would be although the colors of white, black and red bring contrast and contradictions to one another their significance to African cultures

naturalistic shapes were combined to represent a recognizable human face. As part of the daily ritualistic routine, families would often present offerings to cult figures, full-body images kept in homes as insurance of protection. The decorative arts, especially in textiles and in the ornamentation of everyday tools, were a vital art in nearly all African cultures. Wood was one of the most frequently used materials—often embellished by clay, shells, beads, ivory, metal, feathers, and shredded raffia.

The autochthonous religion of the Toraja is called Aluk To Dolo to dolo actually implies "that is, "conviction of the old," or "customs of the precursors."(Chambert et al 2002:117)In this religion, precursor clique, myth, and custom are entwined. Amid therituals, the to minaa, a minister knowledgeable in tribal legend and history, recounts the long