Encyclopedia of African Religion

the cube,” is also a symbol for space and is used in hieroglyphics to symbolize mind over matter. There are those who believe th ...

Aiwel Longar tended cattle that had belonged to his mother’s first husband, who had died when the lion bit his finger off. Soon ...

632 Sphinx The sphinx is the first colossal royal ancestral sculpture in Africa. Source:Molefi Kete Asante. ...

the forms in which Tutu was depicted was that of a walking lion. Standing or walking sphinxes were often shown in confrontation ...

In addition to these changes in spirit mediums, their voices may change, they may have broken speech patterns, they may reverse ...

Spitting is common today in African communi- ties on the continent. Spitting on cuts, bruises, and sores is a fairly common prac ...

Further Readings Bohannan, P. (1960).African Homicide and Suicide. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Jamison, D. T., Fe ...

power is over darkness or night. Others are the powers of light and warmth and the ability to change seasons and spur growth. Th ...

sunsum is a functionary of the kra, in that when Nyame gives us our kra at birth, it is the sunsum that escorts the kra; upon ow ...

Further Readings Gyekye, K. (1996).African Cultural Values. Philadelphia: Sankofa. Opoku, K. A. (1978).West African Traditional ...

When Guinea gained independence from France on October 2, 1958, the country came under the rule of Ahmed Sekou Toure, a Malinke, ...

people were not, as some have suggested, a European or Arab cultural extension, but rather that their history began long before ...

boys are placed into war regiments and tribute labor teams that are called to work for the king four times a year. At the core o ...

Further Readings Allen, C. J. (1973).Dimensions of Swazi Households in Urban and Rural Areas. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, ...

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TABOO Th e wordtaboo meansthesystemor actof setting apart a person,anobject,or a place as sacredor accursed. In African socie ti ...

646 Taboo that any woman who enters theorogroove by accident will be barren for the rest of her life or she may give birth to a ...

epidemics, drought, famine, plagues, pestilence, and so on. Hence, traditional Africans are always careful not to violate or bre ...

When a boy is 6 years of age, he may not eat from the same dish as his father. This is a taboo. Other taboos relate to the use o ...

sacred grove. At this time, the people come from many kilometers away to pay homage to the deity. At the grove that gives rise t ...