as needed by humans. Animals are used for fun-
damental survival, as well as for spiritual and
religious purposes. Animals are used in stock-
keeping rituals where people basically slaughter
animals for food. There are rituals associated
with this process because they usually bless the
animal to remove any ill intentions and promote
clean consumption.
Animals are also used in many regions of Africa
for cultural purposes. For instance, animal skins
are used to wrap corpses while hides and tusk are
used to make musical instruments. Additionally,
animal’s blood is used as food without the need to
kill it. For instance, in Uganda, Sudan, Tanzania,
Nigeria, and Namibia, rituals accompany the
preservation of the animal and the people because
the animals are allowed to live.
It is a widely held belief that the killing of an
animal may spare individual as well as collective
lives. In that context, animals are thus slaugh-
tered in an effort to safeguard the community. It
is also a consistent understanding that the life of
the animal is passed onto the people to which
they are closely connected, to strengthen and pro-
tect them. In this respect, both wild and domesti-
cated animals are sacrificed. The most typical of
domesticated animals used in this process are
sheep, goat, cattle, dogs, and fowl. Wild animals
are used in rain-making ceremonies, as well as to
chase away epidemics and public danger and to
purify the environment.
Animals are also used in traditional medicine
and ritual ceremonies as homage to God and as a
way of soliciting his or her help while connecting
to the realm of spirits. Animal’s blood is used in
libations or as an offering to the ancestors, as well
as to fortify the soil and make it more fertile. For
medicine men, the reliance on animals is critical to
the prevention and treatment of disease.
Myths and TotemsIn conjunction with breeding, domestication,
hunting, and labor, animals are symbolized in
myths that have shaped African people’s reality
and further defined their relationship with the uni-
verse. In many African cultures, animals are par-
ticularly featured in cosmogony myths because
they exemplify the ability to convey sacred power
and messages. In myths, animals are also known
as totems and play a key role in identity construc-
tion of individuals, clans, and ethnic groups. With
the origins of humankind in Africa, this same
mode of expression is attested in many other cul-
tures, as revealed in daily communication, such as
with oral and literary traditions.
Their connection to the natural world moti-
vated the ancient Africans to identify themselves
with animal totems that best fit or embodied the
power or ability of that particular animal. The
ancient Africans paid their respect to and held
animals in high regard because they believed
that specific animals possessed certain charac-
teristics or features of the gods who revered
them. It was one of the ways that the divine
could manifest itself for human perception and
understanding.
The animals chosen as totems reflected the
Africans’ understanding of themselves and their
connection to nature. Africans also regarded ani-
mals as an archetype or aspect of an incarnate
god. The animals were not god, but a representa-
tion or aspect of it and similarly associated with
the Ba (spirit/soul) on Earth. Their high esteem
for animals went so far as to be associated with
divinity. Gods and human beings in the future
life had the ability to shape-shift or transform
into any animal or other life form (for that mat-
ter) whenever they desired. It is this intimate
respect that led them to mummify and treat the
body of the deceased animal like that of a human
body for the same purpose of afterlife and
immortality. This philosophy is directly tied to
their understanding of god and the mobility of
the soul after death.Specific Symbols
Among the many animals respected by ancient
Africans, of particular significance was the scarab
or dung beetle because it represented, in allegori-
cal terms, the soul’s journey. The scarab is sym-
bolic because of its connection to the human
kingdom. For instance, it is born in water, also
known to the ancient Africans as the universal life
force and substance of Earthly life. It is also a
symbol of purification or cleansing and balance.
The scarab’s process of procreation is also of
interest because it is orientated by light and fol-
lows the movement of the sun. It fundamentally56 Animals