Encyclopedia of African Religion

living world, attempt to transform into humans. However, their attempt often fails, leaving them trapped as animals or strange b ...

TRIADS Triads are statuesque portraits of divine trini- ties. The trinity is a concept that embraces the trilateral manifestatio ...

Examples of Nile Valley triads include the fol- lowing: (Mn-Nfr or Memphis) Skmt–Pth–Nfrtm, later replaced with Imhtp (Wst or T ...

Zulu, Soshangane. These core Zulu people are said to have conquered or annexed the Tsonga who were known by some as the Mashanga ...

and oppress the other. However, it is an exag- geration to say that in Tswanasociety there is complete balance of gender roles a ...

The Afterlife Tutankhamen’s tomb suggests that the philosophy of eternal life was pervasive in the Nile Valley. The story of the ...

like other groups in the area, speak a Central African Bantu language, Kinyrwanda or Kirundi, depending on whether one is in pre ...

which denotes things of unusual form. The twins are given identical names that have the same meaning. At times, the names are un ...

Another belief is that twins look alike. When it comes to twins, at times it is hard to tell the two apart. Because of that, the ...

UMBANDA A signi ficantnumberof pe ople of Afric an ance s- try havea profoundpropensity for a spiritualway of life or passionate ...

680 Umbanda destroyed spiritual artifacts. In addition, the local police imprisoned followers of Umbanda for chanting and drummi ...

Further Readings Bastide, R. (1978).The African Traditional Religions of Brazil. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. Brag ...

and Cameroon). The umbilical cord is represented in the Fang’s birth ritual by a braided red and white yarn that is worn around ...

Further Readings Babynology. (n.d.).Baby Naming Ceremony Traditions Across the Globe. Retrieved July 27, 2006, from http://www.b ...

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VAI Histor icallinguisticstu dieshaveestablished that in ancien t timestheVai-speakingpeoplelived in th e no rthernregionof Mand ...

686 Vèvè stands at the mouth or head of the bélí fìlà. Other officials take on various responsibilities in the educational proce ...

Vèvè 687 A Vodu priest draws a ritual vèvè motif with cornmeal on the ground in Haiti. Source: National Geographic/Getty Images. ...

feeding of several lwa at the same time, the vèvè drawn will include the ritual emblems of all the lwa to be involved in the rit ...

At the outset of Vodou ceremonies in the tem- ple (ounfò), devotees make contact with the lwas in Vilokan by invoking Legba (or ...