When I use a 'big-small' classification then almost auto
matically I assign 'religion' to that what is ‘big’. Most pro
bably this is an effect of my education formed under the influence of a ‘big’ religion, i.e. Christianity. I was taught that 'religion contains an elaborate system of codified be
liefs and prescribed behaviour linked with institutions, the members of which take care of practising, preserving and transmitting them (later I discovered that also of adap
ting it to new situations - though the latter aspect has not been so obvious to many). So, there is a structure/institu- tion with all that is linked to it, cultic practice and a codi
fied written doctrine created on the basis of the texts of the sacred scripture. Only later I became aware that the term 'religion' also encompasses 'small' phenomena that not always find their place within the criteria adopted to describe 'big' ‘world' religions.
In the terminology used within the study of religion(s) a general classification of religions still poses a problem.
Hundreds of religions practiced by members of ethnic communities have not been considered as 'world' or 'big' religions1, though that what is religious concerns not only matters that are 'big', but also small' ones. The classifica
tion to 'universal' and 'ethnic/national' religions - perhaps currently the most relevant - also contains a certain dose
1 Although an artificially created term, 'Hinduism’ has been accepted as the umbrella term for the rich diversity of the religions in India, and it is in no way a better term than 'African Traditional/lndigenous Religions' which has been coined for the African continent. Hinduism gained place among the 'big' religions, meanwhile religions of Africa have been treated as a marginal phenomenon that was going to disappear under the contacts with the 'big' world religions. 11 is worth remembering that the last assumption/expectation turned out to be inaccurate.
2 J.S. Mbiti (1931-), a member of the Kamba people from the contemporary eastern Kenya, Anglican priest, scholar and re
searcher on the mutual interactions between the African tra
ditional religions and Christianity in Africa. His numerous pub
lications on these issues gained him popularity, especially the book African Religions and Philosophy (London 1969; Polish trans
lation - Afrykańskie religie i filozofia, trans, by K. Wiercińska, Warszawa 1980). His statement on the Africans being 'notori
ously religious' appears as the first sentence in the 'Introduction' in this book. More about Mbiti in Polish - see: S. Grodź, John Samuel Mbiti. "Chrzciciel" afrykańskich kultur i religii, [In:] Leksykon wielkich teologówXX/XXI wieku, eds. J. Majewski, J. Makowski, vol. 3, Warszawa 2006, pp. 210-225, Biblioteka "Więzi", 185.
of depreciation towards the latter ones. I n the perspective formed by the so-called big world religions the religions of small ethnic groups have been perceived only as local, not to say peripheral, phenomena. However, lack of a big number of adherents, codified and written system of be
liefs or vast territorial spread does not mean that ethnic religions are less important. Religious matters are equally important (perhaps even more so) for people living in mi
cro-worlds.
The work of John S. Mbiti has been criticised, but it is significant that he pointed out the key role played in the lives of the Africans by what the people from the Western world call 'religion'.2 Mbiti did not even hesitate to say that the Africans are religious by nature. It has to be added, though, that the way of expressing that religiosity does not always remain clearly recognisable for the people from outside of African cultures. Earlier coined terms and expectations of what is and what is not 'religion' have caused that beliefsand practices different from the expec
ted (known) forms have remained unnoticed.
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There is also a problem of synchronisation of the con
tent of the terms used for describing what is religious, the problem that does not only concern researchers coming from the Western world.
Jon P. Kirby, anthropologist and a member of the Di
vine Word Missionaries (SVD), recalled that when he had researched the process of obtaining answers to the key problems of human life (matters of life-health-success) posed by members of one of the minor ethnic groups on the north Ghana-Togo border (these answers were ob
tained in a divinatory process) he heard a comment from the elders of that group that could be rendered as: "We did not know that you, the Catholic priests, were inter
ested in religion".3
3 J.P. Kirby, The Non-Conversion of the Anufo of Northern Ghana,
"Mission Studies” 1985, vol. 2, no. 1, p. 16.
The general term 'African Traditional Religions' (ATR), created in the 20th century, though stained by a number of shortcomings, turns our attention to the possibility of listing at least a few common features for the rich variety of religious beliefs and practices of the African peoples.
These features can appear in a variety of forms of expres
sion. The presented list is far from being complete, and verification of the appearance of the indicated features in the cultural context of particular people can show that not all of them can be found simultaneously and everywhere.
Nevertheless, for the requirements of creating a general network of reference points for understanding the way African religiosity expresses itself we can dare to indicate several characteristic features. First I will name them, and then I will briefly describe them.
African religions are (1) ethnic in character. Their adher
ents believe that (2) the world (universe) perceived by them holistically is (3) inhabited by visible and invisible entities organised hierarchically. (4) Constant flow of vivid energy (energy of life) takes place between the visible and invisible worlds. Human society can function in the result of that flow. (5) Contact between the visible and invisible worlds is vital and takes place thanks to the so-called people en
dowed with power, who fulfil ritual functions, are able (but often have the duty) to conduct diagnostic, therapeutic and preventive actions (though not always and not everyone in
ail dimensions and in equal manner) for strengthening and development of a broadly understood well-being of the members of the human society. (6) All that interrupts/stops the flow of the life-giving energy - regardless whether caused by entities from the invisible or visible world is con
sidered as evil. It is necessary to be protected against evil but also to prevent its appearance. (7) Experiential dimen
sion of religion and feeling/sensing the practical effects of the actions of the entities from the invisible world are es
sential. (8) Transmission of tradition is done orally in a pro
cess of initiation. (9) Power is sacred and the ruler belongs to 'people endowed with power’.
(1) Ethnical character of African religions is ex
pressed in the fact that a group rather than an individual is the subject of actions (though it does not always apply to the whole ethnic group but rather to people linked by blood ties). However, individual actions are not entirely excluded. One becomes a member of the group through birth and proselytic actions are not undertaken (new members from outside of the group are not being act
ively recruited).
(2) ATR adherents perceive the world (universe) hol
istically, i.e. they are convinced that the visible and invis
ible world form an inseparable unity. The existence of the invisible world is taken for granted. (3) The invisible world is the place where invisible entities reside - divinities, spirits (including the spirits of dead people from among whom the so-called ancestors originate; these were made as such by the members of the community living in the vis
ible world during a special ritual process of installation. It is believed that the ancestors take care of the well-being of their posterity but also punish them for crimes com
mitted). All the inhabitants of the world (universe) coexist within a particular hierarchy of beings in which the hu
mans are a part. Some African peoples believe in the exist
ence of the Supreme Being who is in a way 'the last resort’
to which people turn rarely because the everyday reality is filled with contacts with the deities and/or spirits mani
festing their presence through extraordinary and ordin
ary events, also through artefacts or particular places, e.g.
shrines (shaped by the humans or by nature). Participa
tion (interference) of the inhabitants of the invisible world into the life of the human community - though not always
clearly beneficial - is expected (lack of that participation is seen as a serious problem). Some even think that all the events taking place in the visible world have their cause in the invisible one.
There is no distinction between sacrum and profanum in the African understanding of the universe. Holism, as understood by Africans, is expressed also in the fact that they strive to live in harmony not only with nature (and people) but also with the entities from the invisible (su
pernatural) world. (4) That link is crucial for the constant flow of the energy of life between the inhabitants of the invisible and visible world. That flow ensures good func
tioning of the human community. (5) Sustaining uninter
rupted contact between the invisible and visible world that brings in effect the wellbeing and prosperity of the human community is entrusted to people 'endowed with power’ whose existence is taken for granted. However, these people do not monopolise the contact with the in
visible world - dreams, visions, trances through which the entities from the invisible world communicate with people can become part of life of other members of the com
munity. People 'endowed with power’ fulfil ritual functions but also conduct activities of diagnostic, medico-thera
peutic and preventive kind. However, not all these func
tions have to be fulfilled by the same person. Description (and understanding) of those activities made in European languages by people from non-African cultures resulted in bestowing a negative connotation on them by the usage of emotionally negatively charged terms such as 'divination’
or 'witchcraft' (often with explicitly or implicitly added European medieval and early-modern connotation that contained an open reference to contact with evil powers).
It seems that in the African context contact with the en
tities from the invisible world did not necessarily mean
’signing a pact with evil', though the members of African communities are convinced about the existence and mali
cious activities of people called 'witches’ (they can be male or female). There was an attempt to differentiate them for those who cause negative effects or conduct their activ
ities in involuntary manner (sometimes unconsciously) because of their innate or inherited ability ('witches’, wizards') and for those who conduct activity malevolent for others in the spiritual dimension (but with real effect
in everyday life), and who learned it from other people (’sorcerers’). That differentiation described by E. Evans- Pritchard in his research conducted among the Azande has not been, however, confirmed among many other African peoples (it hardly appears in the French Africanist terminology). 'People endowed with power' and ’standing on the borderline of the worlds’ are always surrounded by certain fear and uncertainty on the part of other group members, but mixed with respect and conviction that their activities are useful and necessary. The particular ac
cess to the invisible power results in uncertainty about the purpose to which that access to power will be used (this is linked with a belief that both ’witches’ and 'healers’ or 'witch-doctors/hunters’ have access to the same power and because of that can diagnose the cause of misfortune, remedy its effects - partly or entirely - and even prevent recurrence of the problem by doing something that could be described as a ’mystical attack’ on a /likely/ perpetrator of the misfortune). Therapeutic activity is not always re
stricted to the ’people endowed with power’. Some people create ’communities of affliction’ whose members are re
cruited (temporarily or permanently) from among the pre
viously healed (entirely or partly) patients.
Understanding of the nature of activities of the 'people endowed with power’ is linked to the understanding of the African traditional concept of evil (6). It seems that before the contacts with the universal religions (Islam and Chris
tianity) Africans did not know a personified concept of evil.
Evil was ’diffused' and was not always of supernatural ori
gin. Evil was all that interrupted/stopped the flow of the en
ergy of life (even if - as death - it came from the Supreme Being or other spiritual entities perceived as basically 'be
nevolent'). Evil came into being and expanded because of some activities of the humans who used the access to the invisible power for attaining their own egoistic goals. Spirits and monsters malevolent towards people were also known in some African societies. It was necessary to be protected against evil and prevent its appearance and spread. The diagnostic and preventive activities of the ’people endowed with power’ were applied to that purposes, including the preparation of amulets and talismans.
(7) The emphasis is put on orthopraxis in African reli
giosity, and the experiential character of religious dimen
sion of life is crucial. Religious actions must cause visible, felt and positive results in everyday life. If these results are lacking, the African will search for a more effective way of contact with the invisible world and the source of more effective invisible power. Contrary to the perception that ATR were rigid and unchangeable, as many researchers of previous generations thought, ATR have always been ec
lectic, flexible and dynamic.
(8) ATR have no sacred scriptures and the transmission of tradition was conducted orally, similarly to the transmis
sion of knowledge - in the initiatic process (master-disciple).
(9) In both acephalous and centralised societies power is sacred and the ruler was perceived as participating in that
sacredness as long as his/her actions contributed to the harmonious flow of the energy of life between the worlds.
Jokingly but aptly someone stated that three issues form the basic concern of the Africans - health, wealth and chil
dren (progeny). Almost in an uncontested manner securing the fulfilment of these needs is attained in cooperation with the entities/powers from the invisible world. Such a pattern of conduct seems to be so deeply engrained in African men
tality that even a long-term influence of the universal reli
gions is unable to eradicate it. That influence significantly strengthens concern for broadly understood healing and protection against evil (evil being increasingly perceived in a personified form promoted by the universal religions).
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