Traditional African Religion Essay

35) Between 1200-1500 CE, Africa and Asia experienced a continuity in social and cultural ways. Tropical Africans and Asians continued to follow the familiar pattern of the seasons, cycle of religion and festivals, and necessary occupations.

There are many religions throughout the world today. Although there are several different religions, many individuals are not educated about the other beliefs besides there own. Religions today do have differences but are also very much the same. This is demonstrated between the religion of Yoruba, and Christianity. The Gods that the people in these religions worship are different but have the same purpose throughout the lives of each individual. Each individual’s purpose and goal in these religions also display similarities. Furthermore the rituals that are done throughout these religions are done for directions and to improve the relationship between the individual and their god. There are various differences and similarities between

Time is of the essence, yet time is always passing. Time can be taken or given, saved or spent, but is not always the same for “time only existed when a measurement was being made” (19). Stephen Kern’s The Nature of Time introduces ideas and concepts of how time is seen, represented, and spent. Two key ways of looking at time are through the perspective of Public Time, and Private Time. Public Time, is the universally understood time; the time that we experience collectively and are kept to by a clock or calendar. The calendar “expresses the rhythm of the collective activities, while at the same time its function is to assure their regularity” into what we know as the collective Public Time (20). In order to understand Public Time, however, it first had to become universal. “While the year, month, and day have a basis in nature, the week and the hour are entirely artificial;” therefore, for Public Time to become understood by all, the artificial constructs of time had to become universally joined (14). Although the world was slow to accept a universal time, which would be altered by one hour between twenty-four zones, it soon became accepted and understood. The simple measurement of time introduces issues within time itself, however. Time does not stop and is not divided into bits as it is represented by its measurement. The idea of any measurement which does not continuously flow, contradicts the very concept of Private Time.

Religion is a social construct embedded in the African American experience through the ages. Whether it be Christianity, Muslim, Judaism and many other religions that found itself in the Americas the religions derived from the African diaspora was very mixed, they had traditional belief about magic which are derived from some Yoruba and Muslim belief system, Christianity was something new to them. As their, ancestors were brought to the Americans they brought their own traditional belief system. African American religious institutions served as contexts in which African Americans create a meaning to their experience during their enslavement, thus they interpret their relationship to Africa and charted a vision for a collective future that will

My assignment is to write about the various religions that are situated in Africa and religions African-Americans preach. There are many different religions in Africa because there are various regions and countries in Africa. Also Africa and its inhabitants have been around for many, many years. One reason that there are so many different religions.

The period of 3500BCE and 1000BCE was a time of diffusion, conquest, change, and new civilizations. In Northern and Eastern Africa there was clearly a cultural diffusion but not to worry some didn’t change but continued on for the time being. To understand more about Northern and Eastern Africa, we should ask ourselves what were some cultural diffusion and continuities in Northern and Eastern Africa. Between 3500BCE-1000BCE the writing of pictogram and concept of afterlife continued, while polytheistic belief became monotheistic for a short period of time and shields, daggers, and bows became chariot, iron, and composite bows.

During a tumultuous time in America’s history, Africans were being brought to the United States of America to be used as slaves to the white man, however, despite the bleak conditions, Africans brought with them language, music, foods, and more, that can be blanketed into African religious practices. In attempting to create new lives with one another, as well as immigrants from Europe and the pre-existing Native Americans, the sumptuous African diaspora culture planted roots in the United States of America, all of which was shaped by the Africans and their innovations, as well as their descendants. In this paper, I will be using excerpts from both “The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano” and “Black

This twofold conception of time dates back to the ancient Greece, as they had two different notions of time. Ancient Greeks called these two concepts Kairos and Chronos. In his work, Democracy’s Gift, Canadian Philosopher Mark Kingwell describes Chronos time as “everyday, (ii) profane, (iii) homogeneous, (iv) linear, (v) horizontal, and (vi) egalitarian” (12). It is the time that we measure, understand, and perceive as time. This time is the commonly accepted concept of time that we encounter in everyday life. In a sense, this is what Dick refers to as the ‘mundane time’ in his

The concept of time can be viewed in heterogeneous ways. Time can be used as a currency in reference to the film “In Time” or time can be used as a notion of change, events and inconsistency. Time is the most overlooked backdrop of our lives because as a society who lives in a culture of instant gratification, we are impatient and value trivial things in life. We take time for granted.

Imagine there is a bank that automatically deposits $86,400 into an account every morning. None of this money carries over from day to day. Any logical person would withdraw and take advantage of every last cent right? This bank represents time. Each day, I am credited with 86,400 seconds to make the most of. Once the sun rises the next day, I cannot go back and relive yesterday. It is not enough to live life only wishing for Friday to come faster, or for when it is time to settle into bed at night.

Africa has very diverse customs. The tuareg women are key people in their culture and don't wear rags to cover their heads. The people where veils to cover their faces from sand also spirits. The women can own camels and other important livestocks. The matrilineal descent determines where the people are socially. The zulu are mighty warriors and believe in men running miles in perfect condition. The family farms are placed in a compound formation. The zulu believe in a strong leadership. The zulu also believe in leadership through family. The baka believe in that the rainforest are their parents. The baka also believe that the rainforest food and shelter them. The baka women usually stay build while the men hunt for food and collect.

Very often people live their lives without the awareness of the basic structures that they are exposed to and adapted into. The very things that regulate our day to day lives are often overlooked or never noticed. Johnson discovered this while vacationing in Mexico. While appreciating his time away from home, he came to realize that he had lost his actual sense of time. This created a feeling of uneasiness and the general feeling of being lost. Johnson wasn’t lost in the sense of being in an unidentified place; he was lost due to his withdrawal from his cultural time structure. Nature is not defined by minutes, hours, weeks, or years. “Time” is a creation of people, yet in some cultures is regarded as being “natural”. Because systems are integral to culture, Johnson came to realize that time organization is much more than creating a distinction between specific moments within a given day. He realized that the concept of time was created to allow a cultural structure to regulate itself and to organize the people within it. It allows for efficiency and the ability of people to conduct themselves within their culture’s expectations.

Time is a self-evident perception of intangible human construct. A week consists of days, which consists of hours, which consists of minutes, and so forth infinitely; However, time is much more than a measurement or fleeting notion given to each living organism. It is an existential entity that resides outside of the human mind and its attempted comprehension. Its fundamental nature is not one of transience, but one of forward motion, where it not the past that is prepared for, but the future. The passing of time is continuous, with the arrow of time always pointing ahead. But what exactly happens when time passes? The rock band, Chicago, asks this question in their hit song, “Does Anybody Really Know What Time it is?” in order to protest the human tendency to live for the future, and the trivial character of the time-driven capitalist structure.

Read the attached document on the cultural features of Africa South of the Sahara to answer the following questions:

Growing up in a former Soviet Union country, I had little or very limited exposure to the African/African-American culture, history or roots. However, the more I learn about the African history, and especially ATRs, the more determined I am to research the spiritual characteristics of the African culture. Additionally, for the first time ever, I could actually relate my religious culture to the African spiritual beliefs and practices.