medicinal gbo associated with leaves and herbs.
There are different classifications of gbo, which is
created from organic materials collected from treats,
rocks, and animal and human remains. It is the pub-
lic and personal gods who then relay knowledge
about how to transmit power into the gbo.
Shantrelle P. LewisSee alsoMawu-Lisa; Nana Buluku; Vodou in Benin
Further Readings
Alpern, S. B. (1990).Amazons of Black Sparta:The
Women Warriors of Dahomey. New York: New York
University Press.
Herskovitz, M. J. (1967).Dahomey:An Ancient West
African Kingdom. Evanston, IL: Northwestern
University Press.
FOOD
Food has historically served as an integral compo-
nent of African spirituality. Whether associated
with African Diasporic rituals, funerals, or tradi-
tional ancestor veneration, the spiritual use of food
has been a uniting practice of Africans worldwide.
This entry’s examination of food and its use, there-
fore, provides an insight into the fundamental
structure of African traditional spiritual beliefs, as
well as evidence of the unity of Africans worldwide.
Cultural UnityAs has been written, specific foods, such as okra,
and food preparation practices provide evidence of
African influence in virtually all world cuisines.
Archaeologists have used food to document ancient
African agricultural practices as well as the trade of
these food stuffs among ethnic groups showing
inter-African influence dating back thousands of
years. Foods like akee, a pear-shaped fruit, may
have originated in West Africa, but are now eaten
not only throughout the African continent, but also
in the Caribbean and other parts of the Diaspora.
Likewise, the naming of foods in the Diaspora
also indicates an African cultural legacy. Gumbo as
an okra-based stew popular in the Gulf Coast of the
United States shares it root word with the Brazilian
term for okra,quiabo, both of which are African in
origin. Food in Brazilian spiritual houses, orter-
reiros, still relies on African preparation styles and
recipes. For example, the Yoruba deity Oyá still
enjoys the bean fritters or acarajé in Brazilian
Candomblé, which she began eating in Nigeria as
akará. Ogun, the Yoruba deity of iron and patron of
blacksmiths, enjoys beans and rice in Africa, as well
as in North and South America. Beyond providing
this evidence of African cultural unity, food also
provides information on traditional African spiri-
tual beliefs.Ritual Practice
Food is a critical component in many African
traditional ritual practices. These practices, and
those based on them, have found their way via the
migrations of Africans to all parts of the world.
Food in this use becomes a tool to manipulate
energy by which the believer’s desires are fulfilled.
For example, in North America, to catch a mur-
derer, the believer will quickly place an egg in the
victim’s hand so that the murderer will not be able
to escape the area. Likewise, the preparation of
cleansing baths used to cleanse a believer of nega-
tive energy in other African populations often
includes food ingredients such as crushed egg
shell, milk, and coconut. Traditionally, kola nuts
are not only exchanged as a sign of friendship, but
are also used as divining tools and as offerings to
ancestral and other spirits.
Some foods are reserved for their ritual use and
are seldom, if ever, consumed outside of their
ritualized contexts; such foods include dog, tradi-
tionally offered to Ogun, and ram, which is usu-
ally presented to Shango, the god of thunder and
lightning. Other foods, including cornmeal and
grits, can be used to determine the age of a partic-
ular deity. For instance, the fact that Oshun, a
Nigerian riverine goddess, enjoys corn that was
not brought into Africa until around 1500 AD
supports the belief that she is the youngest of the
Yoruba’s spiritual pantheon.The Living and the Dead
Food also evidences the symbiotic relationship
between the living and the Dead in African cos-
mology. Africans have often celebrated important
transitional phases in the lives of community
members such as births, rites of passage, and the
like with communal feasting. Perhaps the most
common of these periods is the passing of a loved272 Food