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Ancient Africa

Traditional Religions

• Supreme God - Many African religions believed in a supreme god that created the world. Some examples include the gods Oludmare of Nigeria and Katonda of Uganda. In some religions this god may be prayed to for help, but in others the supreme god does not interact with humans.
• Nature Spirits - Beneath the supreme god are a number of spirits who mostly live in nature including animals, water, and the earth.
• Ancestral Spirits - The spirits of dead ancestors often played an important part in traditional African religion. By honoring these spirits, believers hoped that the spirits would help them or would talk to the supreme god on their behalf.
• Sacrifice - Most Ancient African religions offered some sort of sacrifice to their gods or the spirits. This sacrifice varied from small items, like a portion of food or drink, to much larger items like cattle or even human sacrifice.
• Rites of Passage - Traditional religions played an important role in the rites of passage. These included rituals surrounding marriage, entering adulthood, birth, and death.

• The people of the Mali Empire believed in a magical force called "nyama."
• The religious beliefs of Africans impacted all aspects of their everyday lives including their food, work, and family life.
• They believed in both good and bad spirits. Good spirits would protect them, while bad spirits could make them ill or make them misbehave.
• In the dry areas of Africa, certain priests would specialize as "rain-makers." They would drive away bad spirits that may have caused a drought and ask for help from good spirits on how they could make it rain.
• Although many Africans today identify with Christianity or Islam as their religion, many of them still participate in traditional African rituals.
• Some traditional beliefs and rituals from Africa spread to the Americas in places like Brazil and Cuba.

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