Animism/African Traditional Religion/Shamanism (Christianity & World Religions - Exam 1)

Animism

Meaning “soul” or “breath,” animism views the entire world, including nature and objects, as being populated by spirits. These spirits are personal beings and must be recognized. Events have spiritual causes.

Ancestor Veneration

After a family member’s death, their soul remains around a family or village. They wish to be recognized and included in family matters. Families may give offerings to these spirits to please them. If they neglect to honor them, the spirits may get angry and cause trouble. Therefore, most people have an attitude of fear towards ancestor spirits.

Gut Ceremony

A ceremony where a Shaman invites a ghost to communicate with it. They soothe it and sing to praise it.

Totem

A large tribal group is divided into clans. Each clan is related to a specific animal or life form, which is treated as sacred.

Taboo

An object, person, or place that is forbidden and untouchable. This is due to the nature of the object, not a person’s moral action. Violating a taboo invites disaster.

Shaman

Serve as direct mediators for spiritual powers. Through a ritual, they invoke spirits to come possess and manipulate them. The spirits than apply their force by controlling the shaman. People discover they are meant to be a shaman by experiencing an affliction that can only be healed by becoming a shaman.

Rite of Passage

Ceremonies that mark and accomplish a significant change in a person’s identity in society. These typically occur at birth, puberty, marriage, and death. The time between two stages of life is considered a phase of liminality or nonexistence. Because the person does not have a role in society, they do not exist.

Mana

An impersonal spiritual/magical force or energy that inhabits certain objects, words, or rituals. People are able to harness this force to do good or evil.