Download Zulu Peoples of South Africa

World Religions, Sixth Edition
Warren Matthews
Chapter Two:
Religions of Africa
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Religions of Africa
 Ancient Egyptians of the Nile River – pyramid builders and inventors
of hieroglyphics, believed in complex souls and divine pharaoh
 Basongye of the Congo – farmers and fishermen who viewed earth
as a flat circle between water and sky, believed god was in control
 Zulu Peoples of South Africa – cattle ranchers who believe that
religion and life are one, that all life has religious significance
 Yoruba Peoples of Nigeria – farmers as well as traders who live in
urban areas, believe that spirits and ancestors are active in their lives
Modern Africa, Home to Many
Religious Traditions
Ancient Egypt
 Egypt is one of the founding sources of civilization
 Written records in Egypt begin around 3100 BCE
 Egypt centers on the Nile

Urban habitations clustered around Nile

Farming and fishing provided sustenance
 Pyramids and other buildings show early skills
Nile Centers of Ancient Egyptian
Civilization
Ancient Egypt
 History
 Long periods of internal development interspersed with chaos
and external conquest
 Written records date back to 3100 BCE
 For over 2,500 years, various kingdoms and dynasties ruled,
imposed their beliefs, and led to a more national view
 From 1100 BCE on, the people were subject to foreign conquest
Ancient Egypt
 Ancient Egyptian religion was polytheistic
 One exception was seen during Early New Kingdom

King Akhenaton proclaimed monotheism, later his son-in-law,
Tutankhamen, Egypt returned to polytheism
 Gods were represented in the forms of animals, human beings, or
combinations of the two

Temples served as locus of reverence to gods

Sky, sun, earth, and Nile conceived as a unit characterized by
regular cycles
Characteristics of Divine/Mythic
Figures
 Egyptian worldview
 Dependability was emphasized
 Unity was expressed in service to the patron deity
 Life, and life after death, were large themes in Egyptian religion
 Mummification

Ka was a spiritual form that mirrored the body and needed to
be maintained in afterlife

The dead were later judged
Tomb of Nektamun
Ancient Egypt
 Egyptian gods
 Story of Isis and Osiris

Reflected self-renewing vitality in nature

Represented key tale for Egyptian religious
 Horus – son of Isis and Osiris, symbolized as a falcon
 Hathor – goddess who created the earth
 Mayet – goddess of order and truth, and judge of the dead
 Bast – cat-headed goddess of joy and fertility
The Sphinx and the Pyramids of Giza
Basongye People of the Congo
 Basongye
 In eastern part of Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire)
 Hunting and farming society
An Efe Man of the Congo
Basongye Worldview
 Earth regarded as a flat circle resting between subterranean waters
and the waters of the sky
 Gods
 Efile Mukulu – a beneficent deity, seen as rarely intervening in
earthly affairs
 Kafilefile – a maleficent deity, understood to have left the earth,
leaving an evil influence in his wake
 A person is essentially their kikudu, or spirit, to which their body is
subordinate
Basongye Worldview
 Ancestral spirits are active and usually beneficent in human affairs
 Witches and sorcerers have magical powers
 Witches threaten human well-being
 Sorcerers can identify the cause of people’s deaths
 Mankishi figures and sacred masks are used magically to
influence weather or attack others
Zulu Peoples of South Africa
 Reasoned system explains how powers of universe affect their lives
 Patterns of individual, family, and kraal (community) life are reflected
in views of the universe
 As there is a hierarchy of heaven, so there is a hierarchy on earth
 As there are rules for dealing with human powers, so there are rules
for dealing with spiritual powers
 Traditional rituals and customs maintain the vital balance among the
living and their relationships with their ancestors and deities
Zulu Peoples of South Africa
 Zulu people live in kraals, or circles of houses
 They do some farming and keep cattle
 Circles dominate Zulu architecture

The kraal as a community is circular

Each house in a kraal is circular

Cattle corrals are circular
Zulu Peoples of South Africa
 Each house has an umsamo, a place place to honor and consult with
the ancestors
 The male head of family leads in dealing with the ancestors
 The kraal also has an umsamo
 The chief officiates and is responsible for keeping the ancestors
happy
 Zulu rites of passage mark birth, puberty, marriage, and death
Zulu Divine/Mythic Figures
 Izinyanga zezulu – storm herders who serve the sky god
 Inkosazana – the Princess of Heaven, sends rains for crops and
protects women and children
 Inkosi Yezulu – the Lord of the Sky, sends thunder and lightning
 Creator deity – a being who is remote from human life on earth
Traditional Rondoval Houses and
Cattle Kraals of Zulu Village
Role of Ancestors in Zulu Society
 Ancestors of the kraal intervene in their descendants’ lives
 Ancestors communicate with diviners through dreams or visions
 Failure to maintain a proper relationship with the ancestors can result
in the increased power of witches to attack people
Yoruba Peoples of Nigeria
 Yoruba religion channels spiritual energy for beneficial results
 Deities, ancestors, and spirits all intervene in human lives

Communal festivals and sacrifice maintain good relationships
among these figures and human beings

Orishas are intermediary deities of spirit and human worlds
 Divination allows human beings to know their fate

Olorun/Olodumare determines fates of all persons at creation

Ife, the central Yoruba city, is where creation began
Yoruba People of Nigeria
 Ase – divine energy
 Oba – community chief who conducts religious rites
 Elegun – a medium who can be possessed by divine powers
 Oloogun – a medical expert who can diagnose illness and prescribe
treatments
 Egungun – masked dancer who represents ancestors at communal
festivals
Common Features of Indigenous
Religions in Sub-Saharan Africa
 Not animistic but hold various beliefs in a deity who rules over a
hierarchy of gods
 World filled with energies that can be used benevolently or for harm
 Good relations between humans and spirits necessary to well-being
 Spirit or soul is essential part of every human and disassociates from
the body after death, belief in an afterlife
 Personal destiny uncovered with the help of deities, divination useful
 Masks and symbols are salient elements of religious life
Yoruba Head Mask with Crown