Encyclopedia of African Religion

lot or destiny) in life. Therefore, whatever happens to one depends on one’s choice of ori when one was making one’s choice (aku ...

This divining chain is referred to asAgumaga. Agumaga is thrown on a mat to establish commu- nication with Afa. The manner in wh ...

252 EyeofHorus Bas-relief and hieroglyphics on an arched stele two with eyes of Horus on top.The symbol of the Eye of Horus was ...

of his father Ausar. The eye was restored by Hathor, and this restoration came to symbolize the process of making whole and heal ...

Finch, C. S., III. (1998).The Star of Deep Beginnings: The Genesis of African Science and Technology. Decatur, GA: Khenti. Shaw, ...

known to never be satisfied and to always want more of what she is given. If she is not appeased, then tears will surely ensue. ...

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FA Fa is the nameof a de ity amo ng the Fon peopl e of Beninand the Yorubaof Nigeria.Amongthe Yoruba,the nameis oftenrendere d I ...

258 Family FAMILY Family in Africa is characterized by persons, unborn, living, or deceased, who are related to each other or ma ...

“Eskimo terminology” for kinship derived from the work of Western anthropologists for the so- called nuclear family. Because Afr ...

or woman will marry someone known and approved by both families. If the man is married already, then his first wife or wives wil ...

the creator of the first ancestor,ZambeorSekume, who was fashioned from clay and whose form was first as a lizard. Mebere placed ...

one of the eleusine seeds grew, whereas the others died from water deprivation. Due to Pemba’s theft and his incestuous act, the ...

so profound that his name was used to refer to a group of Africans who today worship Lwa bearing his name. Indeed, many of the R ...

women and men. Similarly, the Ankh, the symbol of life in ancient Egypt, was often used as a sign for water during rituals. Stre ...

Common in Africa is the sacred analogy between the woman’s womb and a clay pot. Women are often depicted as potters, re-creating ...

Indeed, when Benin people pronounce the phrase Fétiche Sakpata, they mean, with equal reverence, the divinity or Vodun Sakpata, ...

Fetishes or Gods? African deities, divinities, or gods are innumer- able, and the Dahomean, Nigerian, and Haitian pantheons are ...

because, accordingly, it represents the state in which the world/Earth originated—“a burning planet.” Thus, fire is central to h ...

on it of an animal, a place or an idea, or any com- bination of these may signify that it represents a particular group of peopl ...