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African Religion |
African-American Caribbean Rastafarianism Vodun
History
Ultimately, we are all Africans. Studies of mitochondrial DNA have proven that all human beings are descended from a small population (less than a hundred individuals) that emerged from Africa about 60,000 years ago. The earliest written religious texts as well as the first documented monotheistic religion also developed in Africa. During the European dark ages, many ancient manuscripts were preserved in African libraries in places such as Ethiopia and Timbuctoo.
This section has texts on the traditional spirituality of Sub-Saharan Africa, as well as their descendants in the New World.
Finding books about African religion and spiritual beliefs in the public domain was not difficult. These books have a great amount of useful information on this topic, some of it written before colonialism destroyed or greatly modified aspects of traditional culture. The problem with these works is that they were for the large part written by Europeans with their particular biases and agendas. For this reason, we encourage you to 'read between the lines'.
The texts here are provided for scholarly purposes. They may contain racist characterizations, errors of interpretation, or misrepresentations of traditional culture. For instance, the term 'Kaffir', which is used in many of these texts to refer to the Xhosa (Nelson Mandela's tribe), is now considered derogatory.
This page also has texts and books with alternate views, primarily written by African-Americans, which, in our opinion, also deserve consideration.
Africa is home to a rich religious tradition. Refer to Ancient Egypt, Islam, and Christianity.
South Africa
The Religious System of the Amazulu
by Henry Callaway [1870]
Specimens of Bushman Folklore
by W.H.I. Bleek and L.C. Lloyd [1911]
South African Folk-Tales
by James A. Honey [1910]
Kaffir (Xhosa) Folk Tales
by Georg McCall Theal [1886]
The Bantu
Myths and Legends of the Bantu
by Alice Werner [1933]This book covers the Bantu as a whole. Most of the books below also have material on the Bantu of West Africa.
West and Central Africa
The West African area is important because this is where the majority of slaves departed for the New World. Hence large elements of West African, particularly Yoruba, religion (blended with Catholicism) can be found in religions such as Vodun (also known as Voodoo) (Haiti), Candomblè (Brazil) and Santeria (Carribean). For more information on New World African-derived religions, refer to the The Santeria page at Ontario Consultants for Religious Tolerance.
Myths of Ífè
by John Wyndham [1921]
Notes on the Folklore of the Fjort
by R. E. Dennett [1898]
At the Back of the Black Man's Mind
by R. E. Dennett [1906]
Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria
By Elphinstone Dayrell, Introduction by Andrew Lang. [1910]
Fetichism in West Africa
by Rev. Robert Hamill Nassau. [1904]
Hausa Folklore
by Maalam Shaihu,
translated by R. Sutherland Rattray. [1913]This book stands out here because it was actually written by a Hausa, not a European.
Woman's Mysteries of a Primitive People
by D. Amaury Talbot [1915]
The Yoruba Speaking Peoples
by A.B. Ellis [1894]
Yoruba Legends
by M. I. Ogumefu [1929]
African-American
Drums and Shadows
Georgia Writer's Project; Work Projects Administration, Mary Granger supervisor [1940, copyright not renewed]
Coastal Georgia folklore from the 1930s and
connections to African spiritual practices.
Caribbean
Jamaica Anansi Stories
by Martha Warren Beckwith [1924].Jamaican folklore, music and riddles, featuring an indominable trickster hero.
Rastafarianism
The Kebra Nagast
E.A. Wallis Budge, translator [1932].
This work is a legendary history of Ethiopia.
It has been cited as rationale for the Rastafarian
apotheoisis of Emperor Haile Selassie.
The Holy Piby
by Robert Athlyi Rogers [1924-8]
This is a classic--and very rare--Afrocentric religious text from the
early 20th century which has been acclaimed by many Rastafarians
as a forerunner of their beliefs.
The Royal Parchment Scroll of Black Supremacy
By Fitz Balintine Pettersburg [1926?]
Another rare proto-Rastafarian text from Jamaica.
The Promised Key
By G.G. Maragh (Leonard Percival Howell) [1935?]
A heavily edited version of the previous document,
Howell was one of the first preachers who explicitly
preached doctrines similar to later Rastafarian beliefs,
particularly that Haile Selassie was the Black Messiah.
The Wisdom of Rastafari
This is a short anthology of quotes from Haile Selassie compiled by
a Rastafarian group.
Vodun
Two short articles by Lafcadio Hearn about New Orleans Voodoo.
Hearn, a New Orleans native, also wrote extensive works about Japan,
available in the Shinto section.
Last of the Voudoos
[1885]
New Orleans Superstitions
[1886]
Here are two books relating to Haitian Voodoo (Vodun).
They were written by an outsider to the religion who was
ultimately unable to penetrate its inner mysteries; however
both of these books has strengths as historical and
ethnographic background on the topic:
Voodoo and Obeahs
By Joseph J. Williams. New York, [1932].
Psychic Phenomena of Jamaica
By Joseph J. Williams. New York, [1934].
To gain a better understanding of the Voodoo religion and its context, I would recommend the following books [links are to Amazon.com]:
- Voodoo in New Orleans, by Robert Tallant;
This is one of the best accounts
of New Orleans Voodoo, written in the
1940s by an eyewitness to the ceremonies. It has a great amount of
detail about the practice and its adherents through history, including
the mysterious Marie Laveau.
The gritty, hardboiled writing style is not for everyone,
but the information is authoritative.
Rumor has it that Anne Rice herself recommends this one.
-
The Serpent and the Rainbow, by Wade Davis;
The gripping tale of an ethnobotanist who got in a little too deep
while searching for the secrets of the Haitian zombie formula.
The Serpent and the Rainbow was made into
a very frightening movie,
directed by Wes Craven and starring Bill Pullman as Wade Davis.
-
Tell My Horse, by Zora Neale Hurston;
Zora Neale Hurston was a pioneering Black woman author and anthroplogist,
who was mentored by Franz Boas, the father of modern ethnograpy.
She spent years immersing herself in Voodoo and Hoodoo lore,
wandering the deep South and the Caribbean,
both as an initiate and an observer.
This book is a stylistic masterpiece and highly readable.
- Divine Horsemen, the Living Gods of Haiti, by Maya Deren; Maya Deren went to Haiti in the late 1940s to make a film about ethnic dance; she found that in order to do so she had to understand the deep structure of the Haitian belief system, and this book was the result. Deren was unable to get funding to complete her film on Haiti; her unedited footage was finally edited by her husband and released in 1997.
History
The Negro
by W.E.B. Du Bois [1915]
A great introduction to Black history by a noted African-American
activist and scholar.
Wonderful Ethiopians of the Ancient Cushite Empire
by Drusilla Dunjee Houston [1927, copyright not renewed]
A pioneering work of Afrocentric history.
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