GENERAL FEATURES OF AFRICAN TRADITIONAL RELIGIONS

Abstract

There are many similarities between African and Indonesiantraditional religions, but there are for sure also differences. This articlegives the main lines of the African Traditional Religions in two parts. Thefi rst part is the belief system with the following topics: the supreme being;divinities; spirits; ancestors; magic, sorcery, and witchcraft. The second partis a description of the practice: secret societies; religious experts; commonrituals and feasts; personal rituals; sacrifi ce and prayer. Most AfricanTraditional Religions are tied to ethnic groups. If people have the feelingthat their traditional religions become less effective than ‘imported religions’as Christianity or Islam, they accept the new religions and sometimes evenabandon their traditional religion. On the other hand within Christianity andIslam there is still infl uence of the traditional religions.