Ancestors appear more important on a daily
basis than the Supreme Deity. It is the ancestors
who must be feared, who must be appeased, and
to whom appeals must be directed; they are the
ones who must be invoked and revered because
they are the agents of transformation. In effect,
the ancestors know the people; they have lived
among them and have a keen insight into the
nature of ordinary lives. A person’s life can change
drastically if he or she does not pay proper
homage to the ancestors. Some ancestors, as we
shall see, are more powerful than others, but all
are essentially concerned about the well-being of
the society.
Is Egypt Part of Africa?There has been a tendency for Westerners to speak
of Egyptian religion and African religion as if these
were two separate entities. What this creates is a
false dichotomy on the African continent, where
Egypt is divorced from the rest of Africa or, to put
it another way, Kemet is divorced from Nubia, as
if there is neither contiguity nor continuity.
What is clear from many of the authors who
wrote entries for thisEncyclopediais that ancient
Egyptian religion was African religion; one cannot
isolate Egypt from Africa any more than one can
isolate a Christian Rome from a Christian Britain.
Two different nations that practice the same reli-
gion with different accents and inclinations can be
found on every continent. Egypt, or Kemet as it
was called in the ancient times, is an African
nation in the sense that the continental memory
and cultural products are similar to those found
throughout the continent.
Forty-two ethnic groups or political units called
nomesexisted in predynastic Kemet. Each nome
possessed a name for the Supreme Deity. Every
local deity was considered universal, omnipotent,
ever-lasting, original, and a creator who made all
things in the world. Ancient African sages could
see from their own situations that humans lived in
families, and there was no reason that the gods
could not also have families. So the creator god in
a local nome was given a family that included an
intimate circle who intervened from time to time in
the creation plan or in the organization of the
world. A common family for the Supreme Deity
consisted of a triad. In this pattern, there was a
godfather, goddess mother, and godchild. The
great religious seat of Waset had a triad of Amen,
Mut, and Khonsu while at Men-nefer (Memphis)
there was the triad of Ptah, Sekhmet, and
Nefertum. The Council of Nicea in 325 AD spoke
of the Christian triad as God the Father, God the
Son, and God the Holy Ghost. The female entity
found in African religion had been removed from
what was later called the Christian Trinity. In
terms of the female energy, Auset was replaced by
Mary, who was not a deity, but a virgin.
Clearly for us, this Encyclopedia of African
Religionis focused on the totality of the African
record without regard to region. Therefore, our
headword list had to include concepts and entries
that dealt with the religious thinking of ancient
Kemet, as well as the Kikuyu, the Yoruba, and the
Zulu. What is significant about this is that once a
reader understands the mythological and philo-
sophical foundations of African religion, the
concepts are easy to access; it is like cracking a
combination to a complex lock. Once it has been
cracked, there is a new world awaiting the reader,
who is able to peer through the metaphorical or
mythical veils of African narratives.Polytheism or Monotheism?
In the Encyclopedia of African Religion, our
authors have shown that the question of monothe-
ism or polytheism is not an African question. It is
profoundly a Western question. Most Africans
believe in a Supreme God who creates the universe
or causes it to be created, although it is believed
that this entity may remain distant because the
Supreme Deity is not a manager, but a creator.
Although there is a unity to African religion,
there are many variations to the characteristics,
rituals and ceremonies, and details of practice
related to the Deity. For example, the Asante, an
Akan-speaking people of Ghana, and the Yoruba
people of Nigeria believe in one great God and are
politically monarchical, but have no regular wor-
ship of the Almighty. Yet both the Gikuyu people
of Kenya and the Ibo people of Nigeria are indi-
vidualistic and believe in one great God, but the
Gikuyu make sacrifices toNgai, who remains dis-
tant but respected, where the Ibo’s Supreme God,xxiv Introduction