Further Readings
Forde, D. (Ed.). (1954).African Worlds. Studies in the
Cosmological Ideas and Social Values of African
Peoples. London & New York: The International
African Institute and Oxford University Press.
Mbiti, J. (1990).African Religions and Philosophy.
London: Heinemann.
Midleton, J. (Ed.). (1997).Encyclopedia of Africa South
of the Sahara. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons.
BLOOD
Blood is viewed in African cultures as the source of
life. In fact, almost every African culture has ritu-
als associated with blood. For example, among the
practitioners of some forms of Vodou in Benin, the
priests gather their spiritual powers in a practice
called lighting the fires, in which they pay homage
to Ogun, the god of fire, iron, and war. During the
ceremony, a cow is usually sacrificed, and the
blood is spilled on the ground. Indeed, the blood of
animals has been used to call forth the spirits for
thousands of years in African history.
When the participants of the ceremony have
danced the sacred dances and the energy of the
spirits has filled the people, the blood results have
been achieved. The fertilizing of the ground with
the blood of special animals (cows, goats, and
fowl) is a vital part of many religious rites. This
rite enables the priests to call on the Gods to pro-
tect against evil forces. There is an ancient sym-
bolic use of blood sacrifices and burnt offerings
preserved from the ancestors of modern priest-
esses and priests.
The magical power of blood is referenced inThe
Book of the Dead, where it is written that “The
God Osiris, whose word is truth, says the blood of
Isis, the spells of Isis, the magical powers of Isis,
shall make this great one strong, and shall be an
amulet of protection against all forms of evil.”
There has never been a general acceptance of
human sacrifice in African religion, although there
are some exceptional situations where blood was
offered to the deities in a defiled form of African
religion, as with the short-lived Dahomey king-
dom of the 18th and 19th centuries. In what may
be calledrituals of bloodthirst, some of the kings,
betraying the history of their region, adopted
brutal measures to control the population during
the worst period of Portuguese kidnappings in
Dahomey. However, it is now recognized by schol-
ars that this was an aberration.
Since ancient times, there have been cases
where human beings, including servants and wives
of a great king, volunteered or were expected to
go to death with the king to be with him in the
realm of the dead. Ancient Egyptians soon
changed this practice to the symbolic use of
shawabtis, small figurines that accompanied the
dead. The shawabtis were placed in the tomb with
the deceased to serve him or her during the
sojourn in the underworld.
Africans have also used blood to seal oaths.
This has been seen in Yoruba and Akan culture
and is generally accepted as widespread in Africa.
Among the Akan, a goat may be sacrificed and the
blood spilled on the ground during special rites of
the Ohum festival or other festivals dedicated to
the ancestors.
Female blood has a remarkable potency in the
ritual imagination of Africans. For example,
among many people, the menstrual blood of a
woman is considered sacred and has the power to
ward off evil spirits or bring danger to men and
many shrines. Of course, because the monthly
cycle is natural, it also has the power to bring
about embarrassment for women, producing in
some a feeling of inferiority. Others see the ability
to shed blood as an example of the unique fertil-
ity of a woman.
Indeed, there are others who see divinity in the
special powers of women. In African religion,
each sex can operate as the vessel of the spirits,
and there are both priests and priestesses who
serve at their shrines or temples. However, the sex
of the minister is not an indication of the sex of
the divinity. African traditional religion may be
considered less sexist in its image of the spiritual
world, compared with other world religions.
Despite taboos that might be associated with
blood, for the most part, it is a sign of propitiation
and ritual cleansing in a society. With blood the
society announces its connection to the sacred, to
the everlasting, and to the ancestors. Thus, in
African traditional religion, blood remains one of
the most important elements in the practice.Kwabena Faheem AshantiSee alsoRitualsBlood 127