134 Culture, Identity, and Community: From Slavery to the Presentin Brazil, and Voodoo in New Orleans and other parts of
Louisiana. In most instances, Christian slave owners de-
monized African religious beliefs; therefore, the enslaved
had to disguise their practices, and that included their con-
nection with their ancestors. Quickly, the enslaved Africans
learned to adapt their African religious rituals. Many of the
enslaved believed that upon death they would return to Af-
rica or that when the ancestors were properly remembered,
they would return as children newly born into the family.
During the Black Power movement in the United States,
there was a resurgence of African cultural practices, and
many African Americans began to practice African reli-
gions. One such example would be the Oyotunji African
Village in Sheldon, South Carolina, which was founded in
1970 by Oba Efuntola Oseijeman Adelabu Adefunmi I. Th e
village is dedicated to preserving Yoruba culture and reli-
gion, and special celebrations in memory of the ancestors
are held in the village annually.
Even today, some European and American scholars
believe that practitioners of African religion do not relate
to a Supreme Being; furthermore, these academicians rel-
egate all African religion to mere ancestor worship, failing
to realize that the ancestors—being closest to one’s family—
serve as intermediaries to the Supreme Being.
See also: Africanisms; Black Folk Culture; Slave Religion;
TransmigrationNancy J. DawsonBibliography
Awolalu, Omosade. Yoruba Beliefs and Sacrifi cial Rites. London:
Longman, 1979.
Gyekye, Kwame. African Cultural Values: An Introduction. Accra,
Ghana: Sankofa Press, 1998.
Mbiti, John S. African Religions and Philosophy. 2nd ed. Heine-
mann: Oxford, 1999.
Raboteau, Albert J. Slave Religion: Th e Invisible Institution in the
Antebellum South. New York: Oxford University Press.Anderson, Marian
Marian Anderson (1897–1993), internationally acclaimed
operatic contralto, was born in the “Negro Quarter” of South
Philadelphia and was recognized at an early age for her mu-
sical talents. By the age of six she was singing at her family
church—the Union Baptist Church on Fitzwater and MartinLefever, Harry G. “Unraveling the Web of Anansi the Spider: Th e
Trickster in the West African Diaspora.” Journal of Caribbean
Studies 9, no. 3 (Winter 1993/Spring 1994):247–65.
McDermott, Gerald. Anansi the Spider: A Tale from the Ashanti.
New York: Henry Holt, 1986.
Ancestral Spirits
Th e belief in ancestors, or the “living dead,” is deeply rooted
in many African religions and spiritual philosophies. In most
cases, the central belief is that death is not fi nal, but merely
a transformation from one world to another. Although the
concept is oft en misunderstood by academics and those in
various religious communities, the omnipresence of the
ancestor cannot be disputed among those who believe.
Whether an African is an Akan, a Yoruba, a Wolof, or
a member of some other ethnic group, the ancestors, al-
though deceased, are linked to their living descendants and
communicate consistently with the living to guide and in-
struct them throughout their lives. Furthermore, the ances-
tors, by virtue of their status in the spiritual world, guide
the living with a certain moral authority. When people are
obedient and respectful of the ancestors, they are rewarded.
In contrast, when the ancestors are forgotten or treated with
disdain, the living are punished. Th is principle refl ects the
fundamental belief that to forget the ancestors is to disre-
gard self; an ancestor is merely an extension of self because
the living are descendants of the ancestors.
Respect for the ancestors can be expressed in admi-
ration for tradition; consequently, the living celebrate the
memories of their ancestors through rituals including off er-
ings of food and drinks and prayers. It is a rule within most
African religious systems that not every ancestor is revered;
instead, only those ancestors who lived an exemplary life
are celebrated.
Th e Akan refer to the ancestors as nsamanfo, whereas
the Yoruba people annually celebrate Egungun (the spirit of
the ancestors materialized) in a festival usually marking the
beginning of the new yam season. Th e Yoruba believed that
the ancestors who farmed the land for many years should
share in the fruits of the harvest.
When the enslaved Africans were brought to the Amer-
icas, they brought their culture with them, which mani-
fested in several diff erent religions: for example, Santeria
in Cuba and Puerto Rico, Vodoun in Haiti, Candomble