Religions are widespread in African countries. African religions

Africa is. This is a huge continent, which is washed by two seas (Mediterranean and Red) and two oceans (Atlantic and Indian). On its territory there are fifty-five states, where more than a billion people live.

The peoples of this part of the world are distinctive and unique, with their own beliefs and traditions. What is the most widespread religion in Africa? And why is it so popular on the continent? What other religions in Africa do we know? What are their features?

Let's start with some curious information about one of the hottest places in the world.

The first remains were found here. Scientists have proven that humanity originated in this part of the world.

Along with the most famous world religions, such as Christianity, Islam and Buddhism, in some parts of the continent there are exotic religions of the peoples of Africa: fetishism, ancient cults and sacrifices. Among the most unusual of these is the worship of the star Sirius, which is common among the Dogon tribe, one of the many tribes on the western part of the continent. And in Tunisia, for example, Islam is considered the state religion. Most of the population professes it.

Interestingly, in one of the most exotic - Ethiopia - it is not customary to express violent emotions. On the streets and in public places one should refrain from any manifestation of feelings.

One of the most widespread religions is Islam

In the middle of the 7th century, North Africa was conquered by the Arabs. The invaders brought Islam with them. Applying various measures of persuasion to the indigenous population - exemption from taxes, obtaining certain rights, etc. - the Arabs introduced a new religion. Islam very quickly spread throughout the continent and in some places competed with Christianity.

Religion of Africa in the 19th century

The first European colonies appeared here in the 15th century. From that time on, Christianity began to spread in Africa. One of the key ideas of this religion - the existence of a beautiful, carefree other world - is reflected in local customs and cults. The result was the widespread development of Christianity. Schools were built on the continent for which they not only taught to read and write, but also introduced the new religion. By the 19th century, Christianity had already spread widely in Africa.

Common cults and religions in Africa

But perceiving the postulates of well-known religious beliefs, the African population continues to adhere to ancient cults:

• The cult of the leader. It is common in many African tribes in various forms. The leader is treated like a sorcerer or priest, and in some places in Africa, touching him is even punishable by death. The head of the tribe must be able to do what an ordinary person cannot: make it rain, communicate with the spirits of the dead. If he does not cope with his duties, he may even be killed.
• Voodoo cult. One of the most mystical religions that originated in West Africa. It enables a person to communicate directly with spirits, but for this it is necessary to sacrifice an animal. Priests heal the sick, remove curses. But there are also cases when the voodoo religion is used for black magic.
• The cult of ancestors, or spirits. It occupies an important place among the traditional religions of Africa. It is especially developed in agricultural and pastoral tribes. It is based on the belief that the human soul continues to exist after death and can inhabit a tree, plant or animal. The spirit of ancestors helps in everyday life, keeps you out of trouble.
• The cult of animals, or zoolatria. It is based on human fear of wild predators. The leopard and snakes are especially revered.
• The cult of things and objects is fetishism. One of the most widespread religions in Africa. Any thing that struck a person can become an object of worship: a tree, stone, statue, and more. If an object helps a person get what he asks for, then various offerings are brought to him, if not, then they are replaced by another.
• Iboga - the most unusual religion It got its name from a narcotic plant, the use of which causes hallucinations. Locals believe that after using this remedy, the soul leaves the human body and he has the opportunity to communicate with the spirits of animals and plants.

Features of the religions of the African people

It is interesting to list the distinctive features of the religions of the peoples of Africa:

• Respect for the dead. Carrying out special rituals, with the help of which they turn to spirits for help. The dead have a great influence on the existence of the living.
• Lack of faith in heaven and hell, but Africans have an idea of ​​the afterlife.
• Unquestioning fulfillment of the instructions of the elders. In general, the cultures and religions of Africa are based on the tradition of transmitting the main concepts of life and society through oral stories from the elder to the younger.
• In many, there is a firm belief in a supreme being who created the world and governs all life on earth. It can be contacted only in exceptional cases: drought, flood, threat to the life of society.
• Belief in the mystical transformations of man. With the help of special cults, a person can strengthen his physical and mental abilities.
• Worship of objects endowed with mystical properties.
• Any person can make sacrifices to the gods.
• A large number of different rituals associated with various periods in a person's life: growing up, marriage, childbirth, death.
• Closeness to nature and love for the land.

The most popular traditions and customs of Africa

No other country in the world attracts such close attention of tourists. One of the reasons is the large number of interesting customs. The most curious of these are associated with wedding rituals and family life. Here are just a few of them:

• The bride walks to the groom's house and carries her dowry herself.
• At the house of the future husband, women gather and shout at the girl. These actions are believed to help newlyweds find happiness.
• After the wedding, the husband and wife should not go out for several days.
• In Ethiopia, there is a tribe of Hamers, in which the more scars on a woman's body, the happier she is considered. The weekly beatings are proof of the husband's love.

Information for tourists

Africa is an amazing and exotic world that attracts a huge number of travelers from all over the world. Rest here brings new unique knowledge and a lot of positive emotions, but so that your stay does not end badly, use the following tips:

• Do not speak negatively about the customs and traditions of local people.
• Many religions in Africa prohibit women from walking the streets with open arms and legs.
• In order for residents to treat you with great hospitality, you need to learn a few words or phrases in the local dialect.
• Be careful with hugs and kisses, in African countries it is not customary to publicly express your feelings.
• Do not give money to beggars, otherwise you will be attacked by a whole crowd.
• Leaving revealing clothing is best left for the beach.
• To take a picture of a place or attraction you like, you must ask permission from the accompanying person, in many cases photography is prohibited.

Finally

Religions in Africa are diverse. The most important thing is that every resident has the right to choose the one that suits him. Of course, there are still places on the continent where they worship various cults and perform rituals that are not acceptable for tourists, but in general, the religions of Africa are aimed at preserving peace and human well-being.

Africa is a huge part of the world inhabited by peoples who have reached different levels of development and live in very different material and cultural conditions.

The indigenous population of Africa can be divided according to the level of socio-economic development - similar to the division of the peoples of America - into approximately three unequal groups: the most backward roving hunting tribes, who do not know agriculture and cattle breeding (Bushmen and Central African pygmies); the overwhelming majority of the peoples of Black Africa, that is, the agricultural and pastoralist population of South and Tropical Africa (Hottentots, Bantu peoples, peoples of different linguistic groups of Sudan and the Great Lakes Basin); peoples of ancient civilizations in North and North-East Africa (indigenous people of Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Ethiopia, Somalia). The first group is characterized by very archaic forms of material production, social structure and culture, which have not yet gone beyond the framework of the primitive communal system. The second, most numerous group represents different stages of the decomposition of the communal-clan and tribal system, the transition to a class society. The third group, since the time of ancient Eastern and ancient civilization, has been living a common life with the advanced peoples of the Mediterranean and has long lost the remnants of the archaic way of life.

Therefore, the religions of the African peoples present a very variegated picture.

Let's get acquainted with the religious beliefs of the peoples of the first and second groups. Beliefs of the third group will be discussed especially when characterizing the so-called national-state and "world" religions.

§ 1. Religions of the backward peoples of Africa

Bushman religion

The most archaic forms of the socio-economic system, and at the same time the religion, were preserved among the Bushmen, a small group of hunting tribes in South Africa. Apparently, this is the remnant of a much more numerous ancient hunting population of this part of Africa, pushed aside by later newcomers, agricultural and pastoral peoples. Dutch-Boer and English colonization of the 17th-19th centuries led to the extermination and death of most of the remaining Bushmen tribes by that time. Their original social organization (reminiscent of the Australian) and culture were by the 19th century. almost destroyed. Therefore, we have only fragmentary descriptions of the culture of the Bushmen, and in particular of their beliefs, made in the 19th and early 20th centuries. travelers, missionaries and other researchers and observers (Liechtenstein, Fritsch, Passarge, Blik, Stow, etc.). In recent times, the remnants of the old folklore, mythology and beliefs of the Bushmen have been investigated by Victor Ellenberger, the son of a missionary who was born and spent many years among the indigenous population of South Africa *.

* (See W. Ellenberger. The tragic end of the Bushmen. M., 1956.)

The Bushmen tribes split into independent clans, probably formerly matrilineal and totemic. Traces of totemism are visible in the names of genera by the names of animals, in rock carvings of semi-animal-semi-human figures, in myths about animals that were previously similar to people, and, conversely, about animals turned into people.

The Bushmen believed in an afterlife and were very afraid of the dead. The Bushmen tribes had special rituals of burying the dead in the ground. But the cult of ancestors, prevailing among the more developed African peoples, they did not have.

The most characteristic feature in the religion of the Bushmen as a hunting people is the hunting cult. With prayers for the bestowal of success in the field, they turned to various natural phenomena (to the sun, moon, stars) and to supernatural beings. Here is a sample of such a prayer: "O moon! Up there, help me kill the gazelle tomorrow. Give me the meat of the gazelle to eat. Help me hit the gazelle with this arrow, this arrow. Give me the gazelle meat to eat. Help me fill my stomach tonight. Help me fill the stomach. O moon! There in the height! I dig in the ground to find ants, give me something to eat ... "etc. the same Tsg "aang (Ts" agn, Tsg "aagen) **, that is, master:" Master, do you really not love me? Lord, bring me a male wildebeest. I love it when my stomach is full. My eldest son and my eldest daughter also love to be full. Sir, send me a male wildebeest! "

* (See Ellenberger, p. 264.).

** (The conventional signs "ts", "tsg" "here convey the peculiar" clicking "sounds of the Bushman language, which are very difficult to pronounce: they are produced by drawing in air with a click.)

*** (Ellenberger, p. 251.)

The question of this grasshopper as an object of religious veneration deserves special consideration: it is not entirely clear. On the one hand, this is a real insect, although supernatural properties are attributed to it: it was believed, for example, that if Ngo made a circular motion with his head in response to prayer, this means that the hunt would be successful. But on the other hand, this insect somehow connected with an invisible heavenly spirit, which was also called Ts "agn, Tsg" aang, etc. and was considered the creator of the earth and people. In Bushman myths this Tsagn appears very often, and he is also given the role of a mischievous joker. Apparently, this image of a celestial being is complex: it is a cultural hero, a demiurge, and, apparently, a former totem. Apart from the direct connection with the grasshopper, his totemic features are also indicated by his mythological connections with other animals: Tsagna's wife is a marmot, his sister is a heron, his adopted daughter is a porcupine, etc. But one of the constituent parts of Tsagna's image, and perhaps the main one is that he, apparently, was the patron of tribal initiation, like the analogous heavenly beings of Australia, Atnat, Daramulun, etc.

The Bushmen have only faint memories of the custom of initiation. But the young Bushman Tsging, the informant of J, Orpen, told the latter that "Ts" agn gave us songs and ordered us to dance mokoma. "And this ritual dance was undoubtedly connected with the initiation rites of young men. they know more about Tsagna (he himself remained uninitiated, since his tribe became extinct) *.

* (See Ellenberger, pp. 226, 227 et al.)

Pater Schmidt tried to turn Tsagna into a single creator god and saw traces of Pramonotheism in the beliefs about him. He based almost exclusively on the messages of Ching transmitted by Orpen, which he sought to fit into his obsession, discarding evidence that contradicted it.

Researchers found among the Bushmen traces of belief in harmful magic (similar to the Australian type), food prohibitions of unknown origin, belief in dreams, omens, and superstitious fear of thunderstorms.

The religion of the Central African pygmies

Another group of primitive tribes are stunted pygmy tribes scattered in small settlements in the basin of the river. Congo and some other regions of Central Africa. Their origin is still unclear. These tribes have long been in contact with more cultured peoples, but to this day they have retained the archaic way of hunting and gathering economy and purely primitive communal forms of social order.

The religious beliefs of the pygmies, and then only of some groups, have become known only recently. The beliefs of the Bambuti and other tribes of the river basin are described in detail (by Paul Shebestoy). Ituri is one of the most eastern groups of pygmies, moreover, the least affected by the influence of neighbors *.

* (P. Schebesta. Die Bambuti-Pygmäen vom lturi, B-de I-III. Brux., 1941-1950.)

P. Shebesta - Catholic father, missionary, supporter of the theory of pramonotheism. Nevertheless, in his research, in the face of irrefutable facts, in many respects he parted with Schmidt and does not hide this. True, the interpretation of the facts given by Shebesta himself is also very tense and unconvincing. But the facts speak for themselves.

The materials collected by Shebesta indicate that the most important religious and magical beliefs and rites of the bambuti are associated with hunting. Bambuti strictly observe superstitious hunting rules and prohibitions, perform magical rites. The main object of their veneration is a certain forest spirit, the owner of the forest game, to whom the hunters turn with a prayer before the hunt ("Father, give me game!" Etc.). This forest spirit (or "god" as Shebesta puts it) is called by different names and is rather vaguely imagined. It is very difficult to figure out whether these different names cover one and the same mythological creature or several. One of the names of the hunting forest spirit is Tore; but the same name is also given to a supernatural being who performs other functions.

Totemic beliefs hold very tightly to the bambuti, much stronger than that of neighboring non-pygmy tribes. The significance of totemism in the bambuti religion is so great that Shebesta called their worldview "totemic-magical."

Bambuti totems are exclusively generic (there is no sexual and individual totemism); but many people, in addition to their ancestral totem, honor both the ancestral totem of their wife and the totem of a companion in the initiation rite. Totems are mostly animals (most often a leopard, chimpanzee, as well as snakes, various monkeys, antelopes, ants, etc.), occasionally plants. The totem is treated as a close relative, called "grandfather", "father". They believe in the origin of genera from their totems. It is strictly forbidden to eat the meat of the totem, even to touch any part of it - the skin, etc. But the most interesting feature of totemism in bambuti is the belief that the soul of every person after death is embodied in a totemic animal.

Bambuti believe in some kind of magical power of megbe, which supposedly connects a person with his totem; this same magical power makes a person a hunter.

A very curious, although not entirely clear, system of age-related initiation in bambuti, first discovered by the same Shebesta. All boys between the ages of 9 and 16 undergo initiation. The ceremonies are performed collectively, over a whole group of boys. They are subjected to circumcision and other difficult tests: they are beaten, smeared with various filth, intimidated by dancing in terrible masks, forced to lie motionless on their stomachs, etc. Dedication is accompanied by moral edification. During the dedication, the boys are shown for the first time a horn, a trumpet and other objects related to rituals; these sacred things women and children cannot see. All this takes place in the forest, where a special hut is being built; women are not allowed there, but all men participate in the rituals. The entire initiation ritual is associated with the image of the forest spirit Tora. Initiations are viewed as a kind of initiation into the magical power needed by the hunter. Those who have passed the initiation constitute, according to Shebesta, a kind of secret male union of the Torah, named after the forest god.

Compared to these major bambuti beliefs, others are not significant. The funeral cult is not developed, ideas about the spirits of the dead (lodi) are very vague; however, among bambuti, the prevailing opinion is that they incarnate in a totem. There is a mythological image of some heavenly creature (Mugasa, Nekunzi), a creator associated with the moon or a thunderstorm: he is considered evil, since he kills people (that is, he created people as mortals). There is no cult.

§ 2. Religions of the main population of Africa

The overwhelming majority of the peoples of Black Africa - Sub-Saharan Africa - have long ago reached a higher level of social development. These peoples have long known agriculture (in hoe form), many of them, especially in East and South Africa, also raise domestic animals; agriculture and cattle breeding are in different proportions in different regions. People live settled in villages; embryonic cities have also sprung up in some places. Various crafts are developed, in particular blacksmithing. There is a trade exchange. The social system of the majority of peoples is tribal at different stages of its development and decay: some, especially the agricultural peoples of West and Central Africa, have very strong traces of the maternal clan, matriarchy; in others, especially among the pastoralist tribes of South and East Africa, patriarchal-clan relations are sharply expressed. Most peoples developed class relations, in some places, since the Middle Ages, primitive states of a semi-feudal type were created: this was the case in Sudan and Guinea (Ghana, Mali, Kanem, Songai, later Bornu, Wadai, Dahomey, Ashanti, Benin, etc.), in the Congo basin (Lunda, Baluba, Congo, etc.), on the Zambezi (Zimbabwe, or Monomotapa), on the Great Lakes (Uganda, Unoro, etc.). In South Africa, already in recent times (XIX century), primitive military-democratic inter-tribal associations emerged, which grew into small states (among the Zulu, Makolol, Matabele, etc.).

The main forms of religion. Ancestor cult

Differences in the material conditions of life and the nature of the social system determined which forms of religion prevailed among certain African peoples. However, there were many very similar essential features in their religious beliefs.

As almost all researchers note, the most characteristic and conspicuous feature of the religion of the peoples of Africa is the cult of ancestors. Africa is considered the classic land of the ancestor cult. It is developed as among agricultural ones; and among the pastoralist tribes, which have preserved the forms or remnants of the tribal system. The cult of ancestors has historically grown undoubtedly on the basis of the patriarchal-clan system, and most of the peoples of Africa still recently stood at approximately this level of social development. True, among the peoples of Africa, the cult of ancestors was also associated with the remnants of the maternal kind, which in some places, especially among agricultural peoples, are very strong. As the individual family emerged, the cult of ancestors also assumed family forms, which are usually difficult to separate from the generic ones themselves. Finally, in connection with the strengthening of tribal and intertribal alliances and the formation of primitive states, the tribal and state cult of ancestors developed - the deification of the ancestors of leaders, kings.

Let us consider for now the family-clan forms of the ancestor cult. In the beliefs of the peoples of Africa, the spirits of ancestors usually figure as creatures patronizing the family and clan. However, these are not absolutely beneficent, kind-hearted beings. They often turn out to be demanding, picky, demanding sacrifices and worship, and only under this condition do they patronize their descendants; otherwise, they punish them. Various diseases and other misfortunes are often attributed to the same ancestor spirits, but among some peoples - to the spirits of the ancestors of foreign clans.

One typical example is the beliefs of the pastoralist Thonga (Tonga) people in South Africa, described by the missionary Henri Junot *. For the Thong, the main subject of veneration is the souls of the dead (psikwembu, in the singular - shikwembu). Each family reveres two groups of ancestral spirits: from the paternal and maternal side; the latter is sometimes given preference, in which one can see traces of the maternal-clan structure. However, the cult of these spirits is family: rituals and sacrifices are led by the eldest man in the family, especially solemn sacrifices are performed at important family events (wedding, serious illness, etc.). True, in the family cult, the clan principle is preserved: a married woman does not take part in the veneration of the family's ancestors, since she comes from a different clan and she has her own ancestors. Every old man, man or woman, after death becomes an object of veneration in his family. Thonga believe that a deceased person retains his human properties: he loves to be taken care of, he gets angry and punishes for neglect and inattention. Ancestors strictly monitor the observance of customs and morality. The spirits of ancestors dwell in the protected forests near the burial site. They can appear to people in reality, in the form of animals, or in a dream.

* (H. A. Junod. The life of a South African tribe, 1-2. - London, 1927.)

Similar forms of ancestor worship are described by the missionary Bruno Gutman among the Jagga people (East Africa). This cult is also a family one with them, and again with traces of generic exogamy; women who come to a family from a different clan do not take part in the worship of family ancestors. The spirits of the ancestors themselves are divided by age. The spirits of recently deceased ancestors are venerated with the greatest zeal, for they are well remembered. Jagga believe that, receiving abundant sacrifices, these spirits patronize the family. The spirits of the formerly dead do not receive sacrifices, since it is believed that they are supposedly pushed into the background by the recently deceased, therefore they are hungry, angry and try to take revenge on their descendants, who leave them unattended. Finally, the dead long ago disappear altogether from the memory of the living and are not revered at all.

Remnants of totemism

Ancient totemism was preserved among the peoples of Africa only in vestiges. They are mainly seen in the totemic names of genera and in the fact that in some places the prohibitions on eating the meat of totemic animals are observed. Among the pastoralists of South and East Africa, totems are mainly species of domestic animals. Other manifestations of totemic beliefs and customs are rare. Among the Bechuan, who have preserved a relatively large number of them, for example, special totemic dances are noted - each clan has its own; therefore, the Bechuan, if they want to know what kind of family a person belongs to, ask: "Why are you dancing?" Batoka explain their custom of knocking out the front teeth with the desire to resemble a bull - a totemic animal (in fact, the custom of knocking out teeth is, of course, a relic of the ancient initiations).

Among the agricultural peoples, especially in West Africa, tribal totemism was preserved in the same weakened form. But in some places it turned into something new: into a local, communal veneration of certain species of animals, probably former totems. This phenomenon was observed among the peoples of Southern Nigeria, in Dahomey, among the South African Bavenda. Obviously, this transition from clan totemism to local animal cult is due to the development of a clan community into a territorial one.

Zoolatria

However, the cult of animals (zoolatria), which is quite widespread in Africa, is by no means always associated in origin with totemism. In most cases, its roots, apparently, are more direct and immediate: a superstitious fear of wild animals dangerous to humans.

The leopard is especially revered in Africa - one of the most predatory and dangerous animals. But this does not prevent many peoples from hunting the leopard. The cult of the leopard is connected with totemism only indirectly: in some places (for example, in Dahomey) the leopard was considered the totem of the royal clan.

The cult of snakes is widespread. In the same Dahomey missionary Unger in 1864 found a real temple of snakes, where more than 30 individuals were kept. In the Uida area, there was a sanctuary for pythons and other snakes even earlier, which were looked after by a special priest. He fed them, took them in his arms, wrapped them around the body. Among those peoples among whom snakes are worshiped, it is considered the greatest crime to harm them in any way.

Agricultural communal cults

The agricultural peoples of Africa attached great importance to the communal cult of agrarian patron deities and, in general, to the cult of local communal spirits and gods. This was noted by one of the best researchers in Africa - Karl Meingof.

Such a cult is especially developed in Upper Guinea. About the peoples of the Gold Coast (now Ghana) A. Ellis wrote (1887): "Every village, village, district has its own local spirits, or gods, rulers of rivers and streams, hills and valleys, rocks and forests" *. Only these local gods - they are called bohsum - are honored by the community; she doesn't care about strangers. However, most of them are considered evil and hostile to humans, unless they are specifically appeased with sacrifices. Bohsums are often presented as humanoid, but often have a monstrous appearance; they supposedly live in those forests, hills, rivers over which they rule.

* (A. B. Ellis. The Tshispeaking peoples of the Gold coast of West Africa. London, 1887, p. 12.)

Other peoples of Nigeria observed the veneration of local deities in the form of animals; it has already been said above that here, apparently, there are totemic traditions. Deities with specialized functions, in particular the patrons of agriculture itself, are not known among all peoples. One example is the Zulus of South Africa. Missionary Bryant described the cult of the heavenly princess widespread among them - the goddess Nomkubul-wan, who gives fertility to the fields, the mythical inventor of agriculture. Rituals and prayers in honor of this goddess were performed by girls and married women: this is understandable if we remember that the entire agricultural economy of the Zulu is the sphere of female labor *.

* (See Bryant. Zulu people before the arrival of Europeans. M., 1953, pp. 378-380.)

Fetishism

The concept of fetishism in the minds of many is closely associated with Africa. Indeed, it was in Africa that Portuguese sailors observed this phenomenon back in the 15th century. The Dutch traveler Bill Bossman in his description of Upper Guinea (1705) pointed out: "The word" fetish ", otherwise, in the language of the Negroes, bossum, comes from the name of their idol, whom they also call the bossum" *. Subsequently, the religions of all the peoples of Africa began to be called fetishism in general. And since the European colonialists arrogantly treated the Africans as savages, the opinion gradually developed in science that fetishism is generally the earliest stage of religion (so Charles de Brosse thought in the 18th century, in the 19th century - Benjamin Constant, Auguste Comte and etc.). However, a more serious study of the facts shows that, firstly, fetishistic beliefs and rituals are characteristic mainly only of West Africa; secondly, the peoples of Africa themselves, including Western Africa, are not at all so backward: most of them have reached the brink of a class social system; thirdly, and for them fetishism is, apparently, not an original, but rather a late variety of religion.

* (Guillaume Bosnian. Voyage de Guinee, Contenant une description nouvelle et très exacte de cette cote ... Utrecht, 1705, p. 150-152.)

For example, detailed research by Major A. Ellis has established that the dominant form of beliefs of the peoples of the Gold Coast is the cult of clan and local community patrons (bohsum); but the person who is not satisfied with their patronage obtains a fetish for himself - sukhman; the cult of these sukhmans is not associated with the traditional religion of the people *. Rattrey, a researcher of the Ashanti religion, came to the same conclusions. Among the tribes of the Congo Basin, the Hungarian traveler Emil Torday also discovered that the fetish cult is a new phenomenon, highly disapproved of the adherents of the old religion - the ancestral cult **.

* (Cm. Ellis, p. 98-100.)

** (See E. Tordai. Congo, M., 1931, p. 182.)

One might think that the cult of fetishes in Africa - at least personal fetishes, which are now prevalent in numbers - has developed as a kind of individualization of religion associated with the collapse of old tribal ties. An individual, feeling himself insufficiently protected by the tribal collective and its patrons, seeks support for himself in the world of mysterious forces.

A fetish can be any object that somehow struck a person's imagination: a stone of an unusual shape, a piece of wood, parts of an animal's body, some image - an idol. Often the fetish item is chosen at random. If after this a person succeeds in something, he believes that the fetish helped, and keeps it for himself. If, on the contrary, there is some kind of failure, then the fetish is thrown away, replaced by another. The treatment of the fetish is ambiguous: for the assistance rendered, they are thanked by the victim, for their negligence they are punished. Especially interesting is the African custom of torturing fetishes, moreover, not for the sake of punishment, but for the sake of encouraging them to action. For example, when the fetish is asked for something, iron nails are driven into it, since it is assumed that the fetish, experiencing the pain of the nail, will better remember and do what is asked of it.

Priesthood

The development of tribal cults proper is associated in Africa, as elsewhere, with the emergence and isolation of a special profession of priests. In the religion of the African peoples, the priesthood occupied approximately the same place as in the religion of the Polynesians. It has been well studied by both old researchers (Bastian, Lippert) and later (Landtman). The institution of priesthood was especially developed in West Africa.

For most peoples, priests were of different categories and specialties, which can be divided into two main groups: the official priests of the tribe, who were at the temples and were responsible for the public or state cult, and the free-practicing priests - healers, sorcerers, fortune-tellers, who acted on private orders.

The most influential were the temple priests of the tribe. Each temple was like a legal entity: it owned property, land, sometimes even with the population attached to it, slaves. Income from property and land, as well as various sacrifices, went to the benefit of the priests. As property stratification in the tribe, the priest took his place among the wealthy and ruling elite.

Among the agricultural peoples, the priests of the public cult were entrusted with meteorological magic - the rituals of making rain. Among the Jagga people, for example, this was done by special priests ("rainmakers"), who were responsible to the leader for the proper performance of their duties. The rituals of making the rain stretched out for such a long time that they were usually crowned with success: sooner or later the rain began to fall.

Among the public functions of the priest were the rituals of military magic, and the offering of sacrifices to the deities of war.

But even more important for the priests, especially in West Africa, was the participation in the trial. In primitive African states, such judicial procedures prevailed, in which special importance was attached to the magical methods of establishing the guilt or innocence of the accused or the rightness of the disputing parties - Ordalia (in the old Russian expression, "divine courts"). Usually, various poisons were used for this: the accused or the disputants were given a specially prepared drink to drink. If a person remained unharmed, he was admitted to be right. Since both the composition and dosage of the poison were in the hands of a specialist priest, it is clear that the fate of the litigants or the accused depended on him. Judicial hordes were a very significant instrument of power in the hands of the priests, and sometimes in the hands of the leaders and kings, in whose service these priests were.

Free-practice priests - sorcerers, healers - were mainly engaged in the treatment of the sick, as well as in various fortune-telling and predictions. Among them, there was also a fragmentation of professions and narrow specialization. For example, in the Bomma region, the patient had to turn first of all to the healer-diagnostician, who only determined the cause of the disease: whether it was from witchcraft, or from breaking a taboo, or sent by spirits. Having established this, he sent the patient for treatment to the appropriate specialist, moreover, a special one for each diseased organ. All this was, of course, sheer charlatanism and extortion.

When treating patients, many professional healers used the methods of real shamanic rituals: mad dances leading to ecstasy with wild cries, blows to a tambourine or other object. Most often, such professional shamans are nervous and unbalanced people. According to the Thong beliefs, neuropsychiatric diseases are caused by the spirits of hostile tribes, and they are trying to heal them by methods of purely shamanic rituals, and this is done collectively. Participants in such collective concerts, which sometimes last for days, are those who at one time themselves suffered the same disease and were healed of it.

The official priesthood of the tribes usually neglects such savage methods of action.

The cult of blacksmiths

Along with priests and shamans, blacksmiths occupy a special place, albeit less noticeable, in the religion of the peoples of Africa. The extraction and processing of iron in Africa has been known for a long time, and blacksmithing among most peoples has emerged as a special profession, usually hereditary. The isolation of this profession, the knowledge and skill of a blacksmith inaccessible to others, surrounded this group of people with an aura of mystery in the eyes of superstitious fellow tribesmen.

Fear of the blacksmith manifests itself in different ways: on the one hand, blacksmiths are often considered unclean, outcast people, on the other hand, they are credited with supernatural abilities. For example, among Jagga (East Africa), blacksmiths are highly respected, but even more afraid. Not every woman agrees to marry a blacksmith. And the girl - the daughter of a blacksmith, will not be taken as a wife any more: she can bring misfortune, even death on her husband. Blacksmiths themselves try to maintain their reputation as extraordinary people. A blacksmith can, with his tools, especially a hammer, send damage to his enemy, and this is feared more than other types of witchcraft. In general, hammer, fur and other blacksmith's tools are considered to be witchcraft accessories, and no one dares to touch them.

Blacksmithing is surrounded by jugg and various other superstitions. By the shape of the slags in the forge, they guess about the future. Iron and iron products serve as amulets-amulets *.

* (Br. Gutmann. Der Schmied und seine Kunst im animistischen Denken ("Zeitschrift für Ethnologie", B. 44, 1912, H. 1).)

Secret alliances

It is difficult to draw a sharp line between corporations of priests and secret alliances. But in West Africa, it was secret alliances that received special development: they are more numerous, more influential, more firmly organized than, for example, in Melanesia. In West Africa, secret alliances are adapted to the more complex organization of society. If in Melanesia these are mostly male unions, whose activities are directed largely against women, in West Africa this is not the case. Here, firstly, the traditions of the maternal clan are stronger and women are better able to stand up for themselves, and secondly, the forms of primitive statehood that were taking shape here required the organization of police power, and secret unions to a large extent performed this very role. There are a lot of unions here, some are purely local, others are spread over a large area. There are male and female unions; in connection with the spread of Islam, even special Muslim unions appeared. The unions perform judicial and police functions, collect debts, etc., but often they themselves commit lawlessness, engage in extortion.

All this is done under the guise of religious rites and is associated with animistic and magical beliefs. As in other places, members of the unions, depicting spirits, dress up in scary masks and costumes, arrange dances and various performances, intimidate the population.

One of the widespread alliances is Egbo (in Calabar and Cameroon). It is divided into ranks - from 7 to 11, according to various reports. Membership in higher ranks is available only to nobles. The king was at the head of the alliance. The Union considers various complaints and disputes, collects debts from non-performing debtors. The executor of the decisions of the union puts on a strange outfit, depicting the spirit of Go. In the Gabun region, the secret union of the terrible forest spirit Nda plays the same role.

The Yoruba have a highly respected Ogbony alliance. Members put on performances twice a year, donning scary outfits and masks and portraying spirits. The Mandings have similar performances by the Mumbo-Jumbo scary spirit who intimidates women. In southern Cameroon, before European colonization, the Ngua alliance was the most influential. In his hands was the court, but sometimes this union, on the contrary, took under the protection of criminals; members of the union often terrorized the population: dressed in masks, they gathered at someone's house, put a fetish in front of him and shouted for ransom - in the form of a goat, chickens, wine. The Ngua Union also played a political role, helping to make peace between the warring tribes.

The question of West African secret alliances still requires serious study. Not all of them, apparently, have anything to do with religion, although most of them are associated with one or another superstitious beliefs and rituals. One of the researchers, the Englishman Bött-Thompson, who collected material on almost 150 secret alliances, tried to divide them into three categories: religious; democratic and patriotic (including sports, military clubs, etc.); criminal and perverted. The latter group includes terrorist and savage secret societies, such as the Society of Leopard People, which until recently (until the 30s of our century) committed secret murders in very many regions of West Africa. But these terrorist alliances also used religious and magical rituals, including human sacrifice. According to Bött-Thompson, the activities of such unions, whose leaders were interested in preserving their old tribal privileges, were directed against any innovations, against any progressive reforms.

The cult of the leaders

One of the most characteristic forms of the religions of the peoples of Africa - the cult of sacred leaders - is quite natural for that stage of the formation of the early class social system, on which many peoples of this part of the world stood.

The cult of leaders (kings) in Africa appears in very diverse manifestations: the performance by the leader of the priestly, or witchcraft, functions; attribution of supernatural abilities to the leader and direct worship of him; the cult of the dead leaders. At the same time, approximately two stages of the development of the cult of leaders can be distinguished, corresponding to the stages of the transition from the pre-class to the class social system: if at the first stage the leader acts as if in the role of an official of the community responsible for its well-being, and this goal is served by his "supernatural" qualities , then at the second stage the leader is not a responsible person, but a despot-sovereign, and his "divinity" is only a means of strengthening his power and glorifying his personality.

Examples of sacred priest-leaders are very numerous. They are described in Frazer's Golden Bough. Here are a few such examples, corresponding to the first, "democratic" stage of the cult of the leaders.

Near Kep Padron (lower Guinea) there was a priest-king Kukulu, who lived alone in the forest. He could not touch the woman, could not leave his house. Moreover, he had to sit on his throne forever and even slept while sitting, as it was believed that if he lay down, calm would come and the ships would not be able to sail on the sea. The general state of the atmosphere seemed to depend on his behavior.

According to the customs observed in Loango, the more powerful the king was, the more varied were the prohibitions that were imposed on him. They concerned all his actions: eating, walking, sleeping, etc. Not only the king himself, but also his heir had to obey such prohibitions from childhood, and they gradually increased.

There are no less examples of superstitious fear of the leader. The inhabitants of Kazembe (in Angola) considered their leader such a sacred person that one touch of him threatened them with immediate death; to prevent it, they resorted to a complex ceremony.

Out of superstitious fear of the sacred leader, his name was taboo, which no one dared to pronounce.

The name of the deceased leader was even more often and even stricter.

Of the supernatural abilities attributed to the leaders, the most important for the people was the ability to make the rain necessary for agricultural work. In Ucusuma (south of Lake Victoria), one of the chief's chief duties was to provide rain to his subjects; in the event of a prolonged drought, the leader was expelled for negligence. The same duty lay with the king in Loango: in the month of December his subjects came to him every year and asked him to "make it rain"; he performed the appropriate rite by firing an arrow into the air. Among the Wambugwe people (East Africa), the leaders were also "rainmakers"; they had a lot of livestock, which fell into their hands as payment in kind for their rain-making rituals. A similar situation existed among the Wanyoro (Uganda) and among a number of Nilotic peoples.

Since among many peoples of Africa, the leaders were considered, as it were, the rulers of natural and atmospheric phenomena, this led to the belief that only an old, physically strong and healthy person can be a leader, for a decrepit and sick leader cannot cope with such important duties. This motivated the custom, known to many peoples, to deprive of power or even to kill a leader who was physically weakened or decrepit; sometimes this was done simply when the leader reached a certain age. So, the Shilluk (Upper Nile), who showed very high respect for their leaders, did not allow them, however, to grow old or lose health, fearing that otherwise the livestock would cease to breed, the crops would rot in the fields, and people would get sick and die more often. Therefore, at the first signs of the weakening of the leader (which his numerous wives learned earlier than others), the leaders subordinate to him killed him, which in no way interfered with the rendering of divine honors to his spirit. A similar custom was with the neighboring Dinka people, where the leaders were primarily "rainmakers"; they have the leader himself, as soon as he noticed that he was beginning to grow old or weakened, he told his sons that it was time for him to die, and his desire was fulfilled *.

* (See J. Fraser. Golden bough, vol. 2. M., 1928, pp. 110-114.)

Thus, at this stage of development - the stage of military democracy - the customs and beliefs associated with the cult of leaders, although very honorable for the latter, are at the same time often very burdensome for them and even directly threaten their lives. Therefore, it is not surprising that as the communal democratic traditions decline and the power of the leaders increases, they rebel against these customs. Here's one example. In the 70s of the XVIII century. the ruler of the small kingdom Eyo (Oyo) resolutely opposed the offer to "take a break from work", which was made to him by his entourage (meaning voluntary death by this), and stated that he, on the contrary, intends to continue to work for the good of his subjects. Outraged subjects revolted against the king, but were defeated, and the innovator king established a new order of succession, canceling the unpleasant custom. However, the custom turned out to be tenacious and, judging by some reports, after another 100 years, in the 80s. XIX century, was not forgotten *.

* (See Frazer, pp. 116-117.)

In the despotic states of the Guinean coast, the Interlake and other regions of Africa, the kings, although they were often subjected to ritual restrictions and strict etiquette (of ritual origin), in most cases did not die prematurely for the sake of a superstitious tradition. The person of the king was usually considered sacred, he was honored as a living deity. As observers reported, the king of Benin (a state in the Niger river basin) is a fetish and the main subject of veneration in his dominions; whose subjects both obey and honor him as such. " Bronze images of the king and his wife were placed on the altar of the ancestors in the palace and served as an object of worship *.

* (See V.I.Sharevskaya. Religion of ancient Benin. In the book: "Yearbook of the Museum of the History of Religion and Atheism", I, 1957, pp. 198-199.)

The deceased leaders and kings everywhere, throughout Africa, were the subject of tribal or national cult, and, moreover, almost the most important. This cult is closely related to the clan and family cult of ancestors (the difference is that the first was public, and the second was private, domestic). At the same time, he was inseparable from the cult of living leaders.

In democratically organized tribes, the cult of the ancestors of the leaders consisted of ordinary prayers and sacrifices, the same as in the worship of ancestral and family ancestors. This was the case with the Herero, the Thong, the Zulu, and many other peoples. But in despotic states, the cult of deceased leaders took on especially impressive and, moreover, cruel forms. Often human sacrifices were made - both at the burial of the leader, and at periodic or other commemorations. Killed as a victim of slaves, convicted criminals; sacrifice was simultaneously a form of the death penalty. In the same Benin, there was a custom, when burying the king, to bury with him the bodies of the sacrificed servants, as well as the closest dignitaries. At the commemoration, even more plentiful human sacrifices were brought, according to previous reports, up to 400-500 people at a time. If there were not enough convicts who were held in prisons especially for this occasion, then innocent, free people were also seized. For some peoples of West Africa, these people, sacrificed at the commemoration of the deceased king, were considered as messengers who are sent to the afterlife to report to the deceased sovereign that everything is fine in his kingdom. The objective meaning of this terrorist practice was that such religious customs and beliefs helped to strengthen the power of the leaders who had cut themselves off from the community and had become over it as a coercive force.

Tribal God Cult

The cults of leaders and kings, both living and dead, constituted the most important form of common tribal cult among the peoples of Africa and so developed that it pushed into the background another form of tribal cult - the veneration of tribal gods.

The African peoples' ideas about gods are very diverse, it is difficult to bring them into a system, and their roots are not always clear. The relation of the image of God to the cult is also not always clear.

Almost all peoples know the mythological figure of the heavenly god (often, in addition to him, there is also an underground god, a sea god, etc.). In the northwestern Bantu, the name of the heavenly god is almost the same for everyone: Nyambi (Yambe, Ndyambi, Nzamba, Zamba, etc.). The etymology of this name is controversial; perhaps it means "the one who creates, does". In the southern part of the Congo basin, the god is most often called Kalunga. Among the peoples of East Africa, the god is called Mulungu, Leza, Ngai (Engai), Kiumbe and other names. Some peoples have several names for God, which sometimes correspond to several images, and sometimes one.

But not only the names are different, but also the characteristic features of the image of God. An abundant material on this issue has been collected and studied by the Africanist Hermann Baumann *. It turns out that in some cases the features of the creator of the world and man prevail in the image of God; in others - features of an atmospheric deity sending rain, thunderstorm; thirdly, it is simply the personification of the sky. But in almost all cases this celestial deity is not an object of worship; he is rarely remembered and even less often they turn to him with prayers or requests. "Herero (the people in South-West Africa. - S. T.) know the God of heaven and earth," wrote the missionary Irle, "but they do not worship him" **. The same can be said for most African peoples. Even if the idea of ​​God is somehow associated with rain (so necessary for people and livestock), they turn to him with prayers for rain only in the most extreme cases, when ancestors do not help - a common subject of worship.

* (H. Baumann. Schöpfung und Urzeit des Menschen im Mjrthus der afrikanischen Völker. Berlin, 1936.)

** (J. Jrle. Die Herero. Gütersloh, 1906, S. 72.)

Almost everywhere the belief prevails that if God created the earth and settled man on it, then since then he does not interfere in the affairs of people at all, does not help or harm them, and therefore there is no need to bother him with requests. This is the so-called deus otiosus (inactive god). In some tribes, God is also the subject of all sorts of frivolous, disrespectful stories and anecdotes.

The question of the connection between the image of the heavenly god and the cult of ancestors is very difficult. If the manistic theory of Spencer and his followers (that God is a deified ancestor) were true, then it is in Africa, where the cult of ancestors prevails everywhere, that this theory could be proved on facts. In fact, it is almost impossible to present such facts. The overwhelming majority of peoples, especially in West and Central Africa, do not see any connection between the concept of a heavenly god and the images of their ancestors. Only in some peoples of East and South Africa, where the appearance of the heavenly god is particularly complex, did some manistic elements merge with him or mix with him. So, the Zulu believe in a certain heavenly being Unkulunkulu (this example was cited by Spencer): this is a god who created man and other things on earth, but on the other hand, he is also the ancestor of the Zulu people. His name, apparently, is an epithet and means "big-big" (repetition of the root "kulu" - big) *. However, according to modern researchers, Unkulunkulu was at first only a mythical ancestor and cultural hero, and only later his image - partly even under the indirect influence of Christian missionaries - replaced the image of the former heavenly god Umvelinkangi **. The peoples of the Eastern Bantuan group (Yao, Chwabo, Makua, etc.) have a rather vague religious concept of Mulungu (this word means old, large): they call the heavenly god who sends rain, and the spirits of ancestors, and the other world in general. But there is reason to believe that the name Mulungu itself spread here relatively recently, displacing the names of the older heavenly gods, in no way connected with the images of their ancestors ***.

* (See Bryant, pp. 37, 39, 41, 53-54.)

** (Baumann, S. 25.)

*** (Ibid., S. 62-63.)

It is not easy to probe the connection of the African heavenly gods with age initiations, because the initiation system itself has been greatly modified here. The available information is extremely scarce. Thus, it is known that among the Ewe people (in southern Togo), circumcision of boys (and a similar operation on girls) was associated with the cult of the deity Legba, but the cult of Legba among the Ewe is not common, but rather personal and optional *.

* (Chr. Gamier et J. Fralon. Le fetichisme en Afrique noire. Paris 1951, p. 70, 83.)

Only among a few peoples has the heavenly god become the subject of real religious veneration. And this is just among those who have outlined strong tribal and inter-tribal alliances and inter-tribal and conquest wars were a frequent occurrence. Their heavenly god became a tribal warrior god. An example of this would be the East African Masai, a warlike people who honored the warrior god Engai (also the heavenly rain deity). The Masai believed that Engai had allowed them to raid their neighbors and seize their livestock and other prey; the soldiers prayed to him during the campaign and upon returning with the booty (thanksgiving prayer); it is true that the women also prayed to Enghai *.

* (M. Merker. Die Masai. Berlin, 1904, S. 199-200.)

Another example is the tribes of the Gold Coast (present-day Ghana). There were two tribal alliances - southern and northern; the first worshiped the god Bobovissi, the second - the god Tando. Both of these images are complex, but in both one can clearly see the connection with inter-tribal relations, with wars. They prayed to them before military campaigns. The tribes that fell away from the northern union (headed by the Ashanti) ceased to worship the god Tando and switched to the cult of Bobovissi. When in the 70s of the XIX century. the British defeated the Ashanti, the prestige of the god Tando, who could not protect his people, was shaken *.

* (Ellis, p. 22-33.)

In addition to the heavenly god, mountain peaks were the subject of a common tribal cult among the peoples of East Africa, especially cattle-breeding, semi-settled ones. For example, the Jagga revered Mount Kilimanjaro, which dominates their country.

Mythology

The mythology of the African peoples is considered by some to be poorer in comparison with the Oceanic and American ones. But it is not so. African mythology is only slightly more monotonous; it often features God as the creator and creator of all things. In Africa, there are few cosmogonic, much more anthropogonic myths. The earth and the sky, judging by the myths, existed from time immemorial. But according to some myths, the land was either soft before, or it was deserted, devoid of water, animals, and darkness reigned on it. There are many myths about the origin of water: they say that water was initially hidden by some old woman or some animal, and the hero of the myth stole it for people. There are many myths about the origin of animals. Anthropogonic myths are very diverse: according to one, people were created by some god (from clay, from wood, etc.); according to others, the first people descended from the sky (descended from there by God); other myths lead the first people out of the ground, out of the cave, out of the rocks. There are myths about the birth of the first people in a supernatural way from mythical ancestors (from their hips or knees), from trees.

There are numerous myths about the origin of death. Most often they are built on the motive of a "false message": God sends from heaven to people a messenger (some animal) to say that they will die and come to life again; but for some reason this message is delayed, and people receive another message (through another animal) that they will die forever. According to another, less common mythological motive, people became mortal, as it were, as a punishment for having slept through their immortality, which God was going to give them if they could stay awake: this motive is generated by the obvious analogy of sleep and death. Among other motives, there are also motives of punishment, and more archaic: an analogy with a month, with a snake shedding its skin, etc.

Some myths speak of a global catastrophe, for example, a flood (although there is a misconception in the literature that the peoples of Africa did not know the myth of the flood), and a world fire. There are myths about the origin of fire, domestic animals, cultivated plants *.

* (See H. Baumann. Schöpfung und Urzeit des Menschen im Mythus der afrikanischen Völker. Berlin, 1936; "Aura Poku". Myths, fairy tales, fables ... of the Baule people. M., 1960.)

Religions of the peoples of North and North-East Africa. The spread of Islam and Christianity

The peoples of North and North-East Africa - from Morocco to Egypt and Ethiopia - have long achieved higher levels of social development than the rest of Africa. The oldest civilizations in the world, based on agriculture and cattle breeding, have developed here. Recent discoveries (1956-1957) by the French archaeologist Henri Lot in the Tassili plateau showed that here, in the very heart of the Sahara, which was a well-abandoned, fertile country several thousand years before our era, a high culture developed; her monuments - amazing rock frescoes - are now well studied *. The great Egyptian civilization, rooted in this still Neolithic culture of the Sahara, was the earliest Mediterranean civilization that flourished in a powerful state, which later influenced the formation of ancient culture. West of Egypt, within the limits of present-day Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, there were slave states of Carthage, Numidia, Mauritania.

* (See A. Lot. In search of Tassili frescoes. M., 1962.)

Naturally, the religions of the peoples of North Africa have long since left the stage of tribal cults, having turned into religions of a class type, where the remnants of earlier beliefs have only survived. The ancient Egyptian religion will be discussed separately (Ch. 16). In Egypt, there was one of the centers of the birth of Christianity (I-II centuries), which soon (III-IV centuries) was consolidated throughout North Africa. But in the VII-VIII centuries. it was almost universally supplanted by Islam, surviving only in Ethiopia and among the Copts of Egypt. Arabized North Africa has become one of the most important Muslim regions in the world.

Islam and Christianity gradually penetrated deep into Black Africa. The advancement of Islam south of the Sahara, which began in the 11th century, was supported by the ruling classes and dynasties of the Sudanese states - Mali, Ghana, Sonrai, etc. - marabou. For a very long time, the spread of Islam did not go beyond the dry and treeless regions of Sudan, not reaching the tropical forest zone, where the original forms of social life and local religions were preserved. But in modern times, with the end of medieval feudal wars, with the expansion of trade ties, Islam began to penetrate into the tropical regions of the Guinean coast.

On the other hand, Islam also spread along the eastern coast of Africa and up the Nile to eastern Sudan (through Arab or Swahili merchants and preachers).

Getting to the peoples of tropical Africa, who retained the tribal system, Islam was greatly modified, adapted to local conditions. Often, the population assimilated only the external form of the Muslim religion, its simplest rituals, but retained their old beliefs. The main subject of veneration was sometimes not Allah and his prophet, but the local saint, the marabou, who replaced the former holy leader and priest. Muslim brotherhoods arose that did not differ much from the local pagan secret unions. New sects, semi-Muslim-semi-pagan, arose.

Now Islam is considered dominant (in addition to the countries of North Africa), at least nominally, in the states: Mauritania, Senegal, Republic of Guinea, Mali, Niger, northern Nigeria, Central African Republic, Chad, Sudan, Somalia.

Christianity began to penetrate deep into the African continent much later. Among the indigenous population, it was distributed exclusively by missionaries - Catholics and Protestants, moreover, in reality only from the 19th century. Missionaries were often the way for the colonialists who conquered African lands. If Islam spread from the north, then Christianity - to meet it, from the south. The success of Christianization, however, was hampered by both the political rivalry of the powers, and the discord between different religions: Catholics, Presbyterians, Anglicans, Methodists, Baptists, etc., beat off the newly converted flock from each other. And although some missionaries tried to bring benefit to the natives (they treated, taught to read, fought against slavery, etc.), the population in most cases was reluctant to accept the new faith; it was completely incomprehensible to them, but its connection with colonial oppression was quite understandable. Only where the old tribal system was collapsing did the natives begin to be baptized more willingly, hoping to find at least some kind of protection in the church community. Now the Christian majority of the population is only in South Africa, Uganda, South Cameroon, in the coastal areas of Liberia.

Christian missionaries used to fanatically fight against all local traditions and customs as "pagan" and "devilish". But now they are increasingly striving to adapt the Christian religion to local customs, to make it more acceptable to the population. They are intensively training cadres of preachers and priests from the natives themselves. In 1939, two Negro Catholic bishops appeared for the first time. And in 1960, the Pope elevated a Negro from Tanganyika - Lorian Rugambwa to the cardinals.

The interaction of Christianity and local religions led to the emergence of peculiar sects, prophetic movements, reformed Christian pagan cults. The new churches are headed by prophets, to whom believers attribute supernatural abilities. These religious movements often reflect the spontaneous protest of the masses against colonial oppression. Some of the new sects were simply forms of manifestation of the national liberation movement. Such are, for example, the sect of the followers of Simon Kimbangu in the former Belgian Congo (since 1921), the André Matswa sect in the former French Congo *, partly the famous Mau-Mau movement in Kenya, which also contains a religious element.

* (See B.I.Sharevskaya. Anti-colonial religious-political movement in Lower Congo. In the book: "Peoples of Asia and Africa", vol. 6.M., 1962)

According to 1954 data, in sub-Saharan Africa there were: Christians - about 20 million, Muslims - about 25 million, pagans, that is, adherents of old tribal cults - about 73 million.

Page 1 of 9

Africa is the second largest continent after Eurasia. It is a relatively sparsely populated continent (approximately 13% of the world's population, with 20% of the entire land surface). Many different nationalities arose in the vast African expanses. Arabs live in the north, as well as ancient nomadic tribes - Berbers, Tauregs. The population of the so-called Black Africa is divided into numerous ethnic groups, the classification of which is constantly being revised. South and East Africa is home to many immigrants from Europe and Asia, in particular from India.

The indigenous population of Africa can be conditionally divided by the level of socio-economic development into three large groups. The first is made up of nomadic hunting tribes of Bushmen and pygmies, who do not know agriculture and cattle breeding. The second, largest group, includes most of the agricultural and pastoralist peoples of Tropical and South Africa. The third group unites the peoples of North and North-East Africa, who since ancient times lived a common life with the advanced peoples of the Mediterranean, having lost the elements of their patriarchal order. These peoples developed along their own path, which differed from the path of development of the tribes of Tropical and South Africa. There have long been civilizations based on agriculture and cattle breeding, the most famous of which was the civilization of Ancient Egypt. To the west of it were the powerful slave states: Carthage and Numidia. Therefore, the religious systems of the peoples of North Africa were more developed, and tribal cults became a very rare phenomenon. Already at the beginning of our era, Ancient Egypt became one of the centers of the birth of Christianity, which soon spread throughout North Africa.

The economic and political conditions of life that influenced the formation of the religious beliefs of the peoples of North Africa were created by the Phoenicians. They founded their colonies on the coast of North Africa from the beginning of the 1st millennium BC, the most powerful of which was Carthage; to the VI century. BC. the whole coast fell under his rule. Then North Africa was part of the Roman Empire for more than four centuries. She was Christianized around the same time as the northern Mediterranean coast. In the V century. AD the coast of North Africa was occupied by the Vandal tribes. Since the 8th century, with the growth of the influence of Islam, the history of North Africa is separated from the history of Europe. Islam drove Christianity out of virtually all African countries; the exception was most of Ethiopia and the region of Egypt, where adherents of Christianity remained - Copts... In the XI-XII centuries. The Almoravids unite the Maghreb (countries of North Africa) and Andalusia into one vast empire, which then passes into the hands of the Almohads. Trade routes between Black Africa and Europe run through this region; the heyday of the Arab-Andalusian civilization. It should be emphasized that in African countries, Islam has greatly changed under the influence of local conditions. In some areas, it retains only external forms. Nevertheless, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Sudan, Senegal, Mauritania, Somalia, Libya, the Central African Republic and some other states are considered Muslim.

On the territory of South, East and Central Africa, there were numerous kingdoms that were in close contact with the Muslim world. At the end of the 15th century. the first European colonies appear on the western and eastern coasts of Africa. A new era of the spread of Christianity in Africa is associated with the colonial conquests. On the whole, however, the successes of Christianization have been rather modest; the local population often remained faithful to traditional cults. The attitude of Christian missionaries towards them became more tolerant when immigrants from Africa appeared among the church hierarchs. It is significant that Christianity turned out to be more capable of interacting with primitive beliefs than other world religions.

August 7th, 2011

Chapter 7. Missionary Christianity and missionary Islam. Seventy-fold superiority.

We have considered the issues of the demography of Christianity and Islam in sufficient detail, and now we have to consider the topic of the Christian mission in comparison with the mission of Islam. Christianity has always been strong in its mission and this strength does not diminish in the least with the advent of new technologies. The number of conversions to Christianity from any other religion is very much higher than the number of conversions from Christianity to any other religion. This rule is valid in the world for any world religion. And Islam, and Buddhism, and Judaism, and the more Hinduism lose in favor of Christianity noticeably more of their followers than each religion gains from Christianity. On this basis, we can conclude that in the future the role of Christianity in the world will grow. In addition, as the birth rate declines throughout the world, including in Islamic countries, the importance of missionary work will grow. Missionary work will play a greater role in changing the number of adherents of religion than before, when population growth played a major role in the conditions of isolation of religions from each other.

The world rivalry between the two religions is primarily expressed in missionary work.
Currently, Christianity is active in missionary work around the world and in all countries without exception. This missionary activity produces results, expressed in the annual conversion to Christianity of a significant number of pagans, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus and followers of other religions or philosophies. Protestants, Catholics, and Orthodox Christians who have marked differences among themselves, as a rule, do not think about their differences when it comes to preaching the gospel among representatives of other religions. In countries with the majority of inhabitants of other religions, Christians support each other and are mainly perceived by representatives of other religions without contradictions within Christianity. Even for conservative Orthodox believers in Russia, the success of Protestants or Catholics in spreading the gospel among pagans, Muslims and Buddhists is received with sympathy. It should also be noted that a large number of new converts in the countries of East and Africa, although this majority belongs to the Protestant movement, or to Catholicism, is very sympathetic to the Orthodox churches, as they existed for a long time in a state of persecution in the countries of Islam or atheism. Interest in Orthodoxy among Christians in Asia and Africa is growing steadily, because Protestantism, attracting non-Christians to itself, leaves them sufficient freedom of self-determination. This freedom predetermines the growth of interest in Orthodoxy among the newly converted peoples in the future. In addition, interest in Orthodoxy is predetermined by a strong moral decline in the churches of the West.

Fortunately, the missionary successes of Christianity in Africa and Asia do not mean the transfer of the moral decline of the West to new continents. With rare exceptions, almost all the churches of the new continents retain the norms of traditional Christian moral theology. When some of the most zealous Orthodox say that Christian missionaries are bringing excuses for moral sins to Africa and Asia, they are wrong. A strong reformism of Christian morality in the direction of decline was allowed by the churches of the West, which in total hardly constitute 5% of the total Christian population of the world. In addition, such churches usually do not participate in any way in the preaching of the gospel in Africa and Asia.

Over the past 10-20 years, Christianity has been especially active in missionary advancement in Africa and Asia. At the same time, Europe and North America were marked by a decrease in the percentage of believers in their population. In Eastern Europe, Christianity spread over the years due to the return of traditional Christian values ​​after the fall of communism. In Africa, missionary work is carried out mainly among the pagan population and, to a lesser extent, among the Muslim, and in Asian countries among the irreligious inhabitants of China and Vietnam, as well as representatives of Hinduism, Islam and Buddhism.

Globally, approximately 135,000 people convert to Islam from other religions each year, according to Islam for Today. At least 10 million people around the world convert to Christianity every year, i.e. more than 70 times more. We will prove this in detail on the basis of official data for various countries of the world.

The results of the Christian mission around the world are especially evident on the scale of an entire century. As of 1900, there were approximately 8 million Christians in Africa, representing approximately 7% of the population. All of Africa south of the Sahara was pagan, and in the Sahara and in the north - Muslim. Now sub-Saharan Africa is almost all Christian. It took Christianity only 110 years to spread over more than half of the continent. The Christian population of Africa has grown from 8 million in 1900 to over 380 million in 2000 and to at least 468 million by mid-2009 (we will understand later that this is an underestimation). Every year the number of Christians in Africa is growing not only due to the high birth rate, but also due to the conversion of pagans and a certain number of Muslims to Christianity. Pagans are the first to convert to Christianity. Over the past 100 years, many times more pagans have accepted Christianity than there have been pagans who have converted to Islam during the same time. In 1990, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica, Africa was 45% Muslim, 40% Christian and about 15% Pagan. In 2000, there were already about 45% of Christians in Africa, about 41% of Muslims and 13% of pagans. The latest Population Reference Bureau survey of the population of Africa (link: http://www.prb.org/Publications/Datasheets/2009/2009wpds.aspx) gives an estimate of the percentage of the Christian, Muslim and pagan population of Africa. Although the Bureau did not deal with data on the number of followers of the main religions in Africa in its latest report, if we take their percentage for individual countries unchanged since 2000 (which means an underestimation of newly converted Christians during this time), then in 2009 Christians are 46.8% , Muslims - 40.2%, and pagans - 11.6%.

There are slight differences in estimates regarding the number of Christians, Muslims and pagans in Africa in the world. The international organization The Association of Religion Data Archives carried out its own assessment.
(Link: http://www.thearda.com/internationalData/byregion.asp) She estimated the proportion of Christians in Africa in 2006 at 46%, Muslim 41.2% and Gentile 11.3%. The data of this organization draws the borders between West and Central Africa differently, in contrast to the more widespread delineation in UN documents.

In any case, Christianity in Africa from 1900 to 2008 shows an increase from 7% to 46-46.8%, and from 1990 to 2008 - from 40% to 46-46.8%. With some difference in estimates, we see just a huge growth.
On the scale of the last almost two decades, we see that the share of Christianity is growing by about 0.33% of the total population of Africa per year, which corresponds to about 3.3 million people per year. according to the latest report from the Population Reference Bureau, the population of Africa in mid-2009 was 999 million.
If we estimate the growth of the percentage of Christianity in Africa as a percentage from 1900 to 2008, then the increase in the share will be 39% (from 7% to 46%) over more than a century or 0.35% per year, which also corresponds to about 3.5 million people a year who convert to Christianity. As we can see, the growth rate turns out to be approximately the same both over the past 18 years and over the past 108 years.
Throughout the 20th century, Christianity grew in Africa mainly through paganism and to a lesser extent through Islam. Since the birth rate of pagans and Christians in Africa is approximately the same, it can be established with a fair degree of accuracy that, as a first approximation, the figure of 3.3-3.5 million converts to Christianity every year in Africa is quite close to the truth.

As of 2000, there were about 552,000 Christian parishes and churches in Africa. Much of the evangelism of Africa took place in-house, with relatively few foreign missionaries from Europe or America. In Africa, it is very rare to find a person who does not believe at all. Christianity in Africa grew at a tremendous pace, even despite the anti-European sentiments manifested in the middle of the 20th century as a result of anti-colonialism. Now we can already say with certainty that the anti-colonialism of African peoples did not spread to Christianity. Anti-colonialism was expressed only in the fact that the African churches, independently and without much help from the churches of the West, were able to evangelize millions of their compatriots. Over the same years, Islam was unable to advance deep into Africa and the boundaries of the spread of Islam remained approximately the same as they were at the beginning of the 20th century. The share of Islam in the population of Africa, which was 32% in 1910, rose to 45% during the first three quarters of the 20th century, and then gradually dropped to the current 40.2% and continues to decline. There was no significant and noticeable conversion to Islam of some African peoples in the 20th century. The growth in the number of followers of Islam on the African continent is due, with a few exceptions, only to the birth rate in the countries of Islam. The number of conversions to Islam around the world per year is about 135 thousand, and we do not see significant and numerous conversions to Islam on the scale of a decade or twenty years.

It can be assumed that in the coming years the process of Christianization of that part of Africa, which is still pagan, will be completed. According to 2000 data, about 11-12% percent of the African population remained pagans. The majority of pagans were in 2000 only in five countries: Togo, Guinea-Bissau, Madagascar, Mozambique and Cameroon, where the proportion of pagans was respectively 51%, 50%, 48%, 47%, and 40% and where the proportion of Christians grew rapidly at the turn of the century. In several other countries, pagans constituted a significant proportion of the population in 2000, for example, in the Central African Republic (35%), Liberia (less than 40%), Ghana (38%), Tanzania (less than 30%) and Burkina Faso (less than 20 %). Almost all the places of compact residence of pagans in Africa are now enclaves within the places of residence of Christians. An extremely active mission of Christianity is going on in these places, the result of which is the adoption of Christianity by the inhabitants of these places. The mission of Islam in most of these countries is not carried out or is almost invisible.

The shares of the followers of paganism in the population of some African countries given here are based on the census data of various countries in the 1990s or at the turn of 2000, and these data are already very outdated.

The latest polls on the religious self-identification of the population of different African countries show a huge growth of Christianity in the first decade of the 21st century, so that more than half of the pagans in Africa in 2000 already consider themselves Christians. Below, when considering the situation in different African countries, we will cite the materials of the latest survey of the population of some African countries, conducted by the Pew Research Institute and released in April 2010 (www.pewforum.org)

The significant missionary growth of Christianity is noticeable in the dynamics in individual countries. The key country in West Africa and the continent's most populous country is Nigeria, with a population of 154.7 million as of 2009. The growth of Christianity in Nigeria is impressive. In Nigeria in 1953 there were 21.4% Christians, in 1963 34.5% Christians, and in 2000, Christians were already 42% of the population. The last census of 2007 did not include a column on religion. It has been suggested that the indication of religion in the census would reveal a smaller percentage of the population associating themselves with Islam than is currently assumed. At a recent hearing at the US Department of State, controversy arose over the percentage of the Christian population in Nigeria. The Pew Foundation estimates that Christians in Nigeria are currently 48.2% and Muslims 50.5%. The rest are pagans. According to other estimates, the share of Christians has already exceeded half. In the final resolution of the US State Department hearings, it was recognized that the proportions of Christians and Muslims in Nigeria are currently approximately equal. This means that Christians and Muslims in Nigeria are approximately 48-48.5% each. In any event, the growth of Christianity in Nigeria has been tremendous in recent years, numbering in the millions. An increase from 42% in 2000 to 48% in 2008 already means an increase in the proportion of Christians by 6% or, in terms of the population in Nigeria in 2009, by more than 9 million people in 8 years or more than a million conversions per year ...

Earlier in Nigeria, Christianity spread almost exclusively among the pagans. In recent years, the process of penetration of Christianity into the northern Muslim regions of the country has begun there. In the area of ​​the cities of Kaduna and Kano in the northern regions, there have been noticeably more Christians in recent years. Parish lists of Catholic dioceses in the northern regions of the country show the presence of many hundreds of churches and missions in each of the Muslim provinces. In the same way, the Anglican Church grows in the north, but many Protestant churches grow even more. Quite noticeable cases of Muslim conversions to Christianity in the north of the country were the main reason for the clashes between Muslims and Christians, during which dozens of churches were destroyed and several thousand people were killed. In Nigeria, the Christian south, rich in oil and fertile soil, is much more prosperous than the desert north. This is the reason for the migration of a part of the Muslim population to the south, which leads to an accelerated mixing and dissolution of Muslims in the prevailing Christian environment. Also of great influence are schools and higher education, which are often associated with Christianity. Many tens of thousands of people a year accept Christianity in this way in Nigeria.

Compared to the rapid growth of Christianity in Nigeria, the successes of Islam are quite modest. As a notable missionary success of Islam, the IslamAwareness website published information that in 2005 Nigeria hosted a ceremony of converting to Islam for 100 people at once. The site reports that these are former pagans and Christians. Since Christians are mentioned in second place, it can be assumed that there were fewer of them than pagans.

In Benin, neighboring Nigeria, Christians already make up a sizable majority of 42.8% of the population, while Muslims make up 24.4%.

In Cameroon, pagans until recently constituted the majority of the population. In 2000, the share of Christians was 37% and Muslims 23%. In 2007, according to estimates by the Bureau of Democracy and Human Rights, the proportion of Christians is already 40%, and Muslims - 20%. However, a Pew Research poll found very dramatic changes in the identity of Cameroonians. According to this survey, Christians turned out to be 80%, Muslims 16%, and pagans 1%.

In Chad in 1962, 35% were pagans, 55% were Muslims, and 10% were Christians. In 2008, according to official data, the share of pagans was 12%, Muslims - 54%, and Christians - 34%. However, a Pew Research Institute poll in April 2010 gave the percentage of Muslims 54%, Christians already 40%, and pagans only 3%.

The example of the last two countries shows that the share of Muslims has even slightly decreased, which means that a certain number of Muslims have adopted Christianity. It is also important to note that in a country located in the Sahara, the number of Christians is already approaching the number of Muslims.

In the Côte Divoire in 1980, according to the official government estimate, Christians were 12%, and Muslims - 25%. In 2008, Christians were already 32.8%, Muslims 38.6%, and pagans 11.9%, according to the CIA World Factbook. Côte Divuar has the largest increase in the percentage of Muslim population of any country in Africa, but even in this country, the growth of Christianity has far surpassed the highest growth rates of Islam of any country in Africa.

In Ghana in 1960, 41% were Christians, 12% Muslim, and 47% pagans. In 2008, according to official figures, Christians were already 69%, Muslims - 16%, and pagans - 15%. At the same time, a Pew Research Institute poll counted in 2010, according to responses in Ghana, Christians - 83%, Muslims - 11% and pagans 4%.

The share of the Christian population in the 1990s increased very significantly in Burkina Faso (up to 20%), Sierra Leone (up to 30%), Guinea (up to 10%), despite the fact that earlier these countries were mostly Muslim. It can be assumed that the growth of Christianity there continued in the first decade of the 21st century, but the latest data on these countries are not yet available. Interestingly, a Pew Research poll found in only one country in Africa, the proportion of pagans in the population, more than 10%. In Liberia, Pagans are currently 12% according to the latest polls. This means that the previous CIA World Factbook data on Liberia is out of date. According to these data, in Liberia there used to be 40% Christians, 40% pagans and 20% Muslims, while according to a survey, Christians - 69%, and Muslims - 19% ..

A Pew Research survey of the Ugandan population found that about a third of Ugandans who were born to Muslim families now identify themselves as Christians. According to the 2002 census, Uganda had 83.9% Christians, 12.1% Muslims and 3.1% Gentiles.

There has been a tremendous growth in Christianity in Sudan in recent years. Operation World estimates that in 1980 there were 72% Muslims, 9% Christians, and 19% Gentiles in Sudan. However, by 2008, the share of Muslims dropped to 63%, the share of Christians increased to 24%, and the share of pagans dropped to 10%. Link:
http://www.operationworld.org/country/suda/owtext.html

In the south of the country there has been a rapid growth of Christianity in recent years. In southern Sudan, the proportion of Christians has already reached, according to some estimates, 70% of the population. In the last 3 years alone, about 800 thousand people have adopted Christianity, and in total since 1990, about 5 million people. It remains controversial how many Muslims converted to Christianity in Sudan. In a recent interview, the Anglican bishop of southern Sudan said that the rise of Christianity in Sudan is largely driven by the heathen. At the same time, however, one cannot ignore the fact that when they are baptized, Muslims almost always hide their Muslim past from the public, so as not to incur the penalty for apostasy, which is characteristic of fundamentalist Islamic law. This secrecy usually makes it difficult to assess Muslim conversions to Christianity in Sudan. At least, we have the right to assume that among the millions who converted to Christianity in Sudan there is a noticeable proportion of those who have converted from Islam, but do not advertise their transition. There are also cases of Muslims converting to Christianity in northern Sudan, where Islamic radicalism is extremely widespread.

In Ethiopia, the percentage of Muslims has not increased over the past 15 years. Ethiopian Muslims live in more difficult areas of the country and have poorer living standards. In places of residence of the Christian population, there is a process of gradual assimilation of Muslims by the predominant Christian population. Recent demographic studies in Ethiopia show that the Muslim population has a slightly higher birth rate than Protestants or the majority of the population belonging to the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. According to the 1994 census, the number of births per woman among followers of different faiths is as follows: Muslims 7.4 Orthodox Christians 6.0 Protestants 6.2 Ethiopia's Muslim population grew from 1994 to 2007 from 17.4 million to 25 million. But at the same time, according to official data in 2007, the percentage of the Muslim population remained at 34%, with a slightly higher birth rate. This means that since 1994 there has been an outflow of Ethiopian Muslims to Christianity, which can be estimated at an approximate figure of 1-2 million from 1994 to 2007. During this period, the conversion of the pagan population to Christianity took place. The share of Christians in the population of Ethiopia increased from 1994 to 2007, but it is difficult to give an exact figure for the conversion of Muslims to Christianity, since more pagans accepted Christianity during this period. At least in both Protestant and Orthodox churches in Ethiopia, the adoption of Christianity by Muslims is quite common. At present, the population of Ethiopia has already stepped over the figure of 80 million people. The latest Pew Research study shows further progress in Christianity. So, according to a survey of the population, the share of Christians is at 69%, and Muslims - 30%. This shows an increase in the share of Christianity over 10 years by about 7% and a decrease in the share of Islam by about 4%. If the results of the poll of the international institute are officially confirmed, it will turn out that about 3 million Ethiopians began to associate themselves with Christianity instead of Islam.

In recent years, there has been a marked increase in the number of conversions to Christianity from Islam in Ghana. This caused significant friction between Christians and Muslims in the northern part of the country. The World Council of Churches paid attention to this at one of its meetings. The report of the World Council of Churches on the situation in Ghana indicated that among Christians in Ghana there is a prevailing belief in the need for an early evangelization of the northern Muslim regions. According to the CIA World Factbook, the share of Christians in Ghana was previously 68.8%, Muslims 15.9%, and Gentiles 8.5%. However, Pew Research gives the latest survey data showing that the proportion of Christians has increased to 83%, the proportion of Muslims is 11%, and the Gentile is 4%.

Christianity in Tanzania has provided a very large increase in recent years. Official figures from the 1990s said the country was one-third Christian, one-third Muslim, and one-third pagan. The last census did not include a column on religion. But the latest data from Pew Research shows the share of Christianity is already 60%, Islam - 36%, and pagans - 2%.

In Kenya, in 2000, 78% were Christians, 10% Muslims, and 10% pagans. Now, according to a Pew Research poll, Christians are 88% and Muslims are 11%. The percentage of Muslims did not increase significantly, although there was a fairly strong immigration of Muslims from neighboring Somalia.

In Guinea-Bissau, according to the CIA World Factbook, there were 40-50% Muslims, 10% Christians and 40% pagans. Currently, according to Pew Research, 62% of the country's inhabitants call themselves Christians, and 38% are Muslims.

Christianity became very widespread in Madagascar. According to official figures, 47% of pagans, 45% of Christians and 7% of Muslims lived on this huge island in the 1990s. At the same time, the share of Christians has grown many times over the 20th century to 45%. We do not currently have the most recent data on Madagascar, but by analogy with all other African countries, we can assume that a significant part of the pagans managed to convert to Christianity in the first decade of the 21st century. There were reports in Muslim sources that there were cases of adoption of Islam in Madagascar. Thus, in the 1990s, one of the tribes of more than 10 thousand people converted to Islam.

Christianity is spreading even in countries where Islam has always dominated. We have already mentioned Chad, where the share of Christianity has already approached the share of Islam. But apart from Chad, Christianity is gradually spreading where before there were no Christians at all, for example, in Mali, where 8% of the population already call themselves Christians, or in Niger, where there are already more than 5% of Christians.

According to 2000 data, over 50 years Christianity has outstripped Islam in 28 countries of continental Africa, leaving Islam leadership in only 19 countries, and reached parity in two more countries. If we take into account the latest data from the Pew Research population polls, then the growth of Christianity turns out to be even higher.

In recent years, the Christian mission has spread to countries that were previously populated mainly by Muslims, or even were generally Islamic states. A broad mission of Christianity is now going on in the countries of the Maghreb. In Egypt, where the Christian Coptic minority has been under strong pressure from Islam for many centuries, there is a secret conversion of some Muslims to Christianity. Over the past few years, tens of thousands of Egyptian Muslims have converted to Christianity every year. Until 2009, such transitions took place in secret. At present, the conversion to Christianity in Egypt is already formally allowed, but is held back by bureaucratic obstacles and fanatical threats. Recently, the French TV channel France 24 dedicated one of its reports to the mass baptism of Egyptians. The total number of secret Christians from former Muslims in Egypt is estimated at 1 million. The Bible Society of Egypt reports a tremendous increase in the demand for Bibles in this country. In one year, the Bible Society sold 750,000 audio copies of the New Testament (this speaks of the great interest of young people). It also sold 600,000 copies of the movie "Jesus" and 500,000 copies of the New Testament in one year. At the same time, in the early 90s, only about 3 thousand copies of the film were sold. It is reported that the most significant converts to Christianity are intellectuals.

In Morocco, the number of adult baptisms in the past year has reached 45 thousand, and in Algeria - 10 thousand. Christianity is also spreading in Tunisia and, somewhat less, in Libya. The Christianization of the Sahara tribes, such as the Berbers and Tuaregs, is proceeding quite successfully. In the desert in southern Algeria and Morocco, there are already dozens of Christian churches and many hundreds of Christian meeting places. They all appeared there in the last decade. The number of newly converted Christians in Algeria is estimated at between 150,000 and 1 million. There are about 70 secret churches in the Kabylia region alone.

Based on all the information available about the growth of Christianity in Africa, we can assume that the missionary advancement of Christianity on this continent will continue in the coming years. After the conversion of the remnants of African paganism to Christianity, a more noticeable contact between Christianity and Islam, as rival religions, is likely to occur. This could lead to an increase in tension in the region and to an increase in interreligious contradictions.

The history of the religious life of the African continent is closely intertwined with the historical destinies of the peoples inhabiting it; it bears the imprint of those dramatic processes that have taken place and continue to occur in the social and political history of Africa. On the one hand, the traditional beliefs of the indigenous peoples are still widespread here - the so-called autochthonous cults, which developed among the original inhabitants before the invasion of the Arabs and Europeans; on the other hand, the processes of intensive Christianization and Islamization of the continent did not remain without consequences, as a result of which world religions also became widespread in Africa. Traditional religions retain their dominant influence in sub-Saharan Africa, Tropical and South Africa. Countries such as Botswana, Swaziland, Burkina Fasso, Sierra Leone, Côte d'Ivoire, Benin, Ghana, Zimbabwe and Mozambique have about 70-80% of the total population. At the same time, 40% of all inhabitants of the continent profess Islam, in the states of the northern part of the continent - Mauritania, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya - Muslims constitute the overwhelming majority of the population. The percentage of Muslims is also high in Senegal, Niger, Mali, Sudan, Chad and some other countries. Most African Muslims are Sunnis, with the exception of small groups of Shiites who are descendants of immigrants from Yemen, Iran, Iraq and India who live in East Africa and the Indian Ocean islands. About 22% of the total population of Africa professes Christianity, and Catholics and Protestants predominate among them, although Monophysites and Orthodox Christians are also represented quite widely - about a quarter of all Christians. There is a significant Christian stratum in South Africa, in both Congo, Madagascar, Uganda and Angola. Almost all monophysites in Africa live in Ethiopia and Egypt, while Egypt, a predominantly Islamic country, also has an ancient Coptic church. In places, world religions have supplanted traditional cults, but more or less intense syncretic processes are observed almost everywhere; there is a dual faith, penetration into traditional mythologies of Christian and Islamic motives, etc. The so-called Christian-African churches and sects that have broken away from Christian churches and sects have become a specifically African phenomenon. These are syncretic confessions, in the creed of which Christian ideas are combined with local traditional beliefs, primarily with the cult of ancestors. In addition to traditional religions, Christianity, Islam, Christian-African confessions, Hinduism and Judaism are represented in Africa by a small number of followers. The world of traditional African religions is very diverse and multifaceted; almost each of the numerous tribes inhabiting the continent created its own system of beliefs, distinctive and original, which carried a specific worldview, often quite complex, which was fixed in deeply developed - and also different from people to people - mythological systems. However, there is a certain unity in this diversity, which allows one to see the universal typical features of the religious culture of Africa in the pre-colonial era, to trace some natural tendencies in the evolution of traditional beliefs. First of all, it should be pointed out that these beliefs represent one of the most conservative forms of religious life, they retain the most ancient strata characteristic of the religion of primitive society - totemism, animism, fetishism, ancestor cult, sacrifice, initiation. In traditional beliefs, the most archaic mythological motives and the most ancient forms of thinking have survived, as well as the forms of social life or purely practical activity. It is no coincidence that it was the tribes of indigenous Africans - in particular, the Bushmen - who began to be considered by Western science as a model representing the earliest stages of human civilization. It should be borne in mind that by the time colonization began, African tribes were at various stages of development; if the Bushmen and Hottentots, for example, were in the stage of an early clan society, in which there was no intra-tribal or inter-tribal organization, then such tribes as the Zulus or Watsong entered the phase of the late-clan system, with a developed craft and agriculture, with social and property differentiation; in them the nobility was formed and the beginnings of slaveholding and feudal relations appeared. In Africa, there were also peoples who, even in the pre-colonial era, had early class state formations (Ganda, Yoruba, Ashanti, Beni, etc.). The level of social development could not but reflect on the nature of religious ideas; it left its mark on the content of the doctrine, cult and on religious organizations. The formation of the state primarily influenced the formation and advancement of the cult of the ruler, his deification, and the sacralization of power. In the myths of the peoples of Africa, all the main motives characteristic of any mythology are presented - cosmogony and theogony, the emergence of man and the appearance in the world of death, the work of the god-demiurge and the pantheon of gods subordinate to him, cultural heroes and tricksters. A significant part of the myths is etiological in nature - they explain the structure of the universe, cosmic and atmospheric phenomena. Often in the mythological ideas of one people there are parallel myths that explain the same phenomenon in different ways, which indicates the processes of borrowing, assimilation, syncretization of the original beliefs. Thus, the Bushmen, according to one of the myths, believe that the sun was formerly a man whose armpits glowed. If he raised his hand, the earth lit up with sunlight, went to bed - everything was plunged into darkness. Then the people of the "ancient people" (this people inhabited the earth before the Bushmen, not only people belonged to it, but also heavenly bodies, animals, etc.) threw it into heaven. However, the Bushmen have another myth, which tells that once upon a time there lived a man-fire, whose head shone. He brought good luck on the hunt, but demanded the best piece of meat for himself. People killed him and cut off his head with stone knives. One hunter planted his head on a stick and flung it over the top. So the sun appeared in the sky. Every day it travels from east to west, but cannot find its body on earth. The moon is the sandal of a man of the “ancient people”. One day, his daughter put her father's wet sandals too close to the fire, only ash was left of one, and the other was half burnt. Angry, my father threw up a half-burnt sandal, which became the moon. The ash of another sandal thrown up by the girl turned into stars and the Milky Way. According to the myth, the sun pursues its rival - the moon, cutting off pieces of meat from it; when the moon manages to escape, it gradually becomes overgrown with meat again. The Milky Way, red and white stars are wood ash, ripe and young roots, which were thrown into the sky by a girl, angry with her mother for giving her few roots. From the peel of a kuissi root thrown by her into the sky, locusts arose. Another myth tells how one girl, possessing magical powers, at the onset of puberty, looked at the lions, and they turned into stars13. In Dogon mythology, cosmogonic myths are also presented in different versions. According to one of them, the supreme deity Amma created the sun and the moon, just like a potter makes objects from clay. The sun is red-hot, it is surrounded by a spiral of eight turns of red copper, and the moon is the same spiral of white copper. Amma threw balls of clay into space, which turned into stars, and a large lump of clay, which took the form of a female body and became the Earth. Amma made the Earth his wife, from this marriage were born children - the jackal Yurugu and the Nommo twins. From raw clay Amma blinded the first people. According to another version, the world belongs to 14 Amma, who dominate over 14 lands located one above the other: seven - above and seven - below. Our earth is the first of the seven lower worlds, ordinary people live only on it, tailed people live on six others. Horned people live on the seven upper lands, they send diseases to the earth and throw stones of thunder and lightning. The earth is round and flat, it is surrounded by a large expanse of salt water, and all this is entwined by a huge snake that lies, biting its tail. In the center of the earth is an iron pillar that supports the earth above. Every earth has a sun and a moon. The sun is motionless, the earth revolves. Amma of our land is the oldest and most powerful, he was the first to create the earth, as well as the sky, water, animals, spirits and people. The other Amma followed suit. There is another version of the myth, according to which the world originated from the word "Amma", which gave rise to the infinitely small. This primordial embryo of life has become a "world egg." It became the original uterus, which divided into two placentas, and each was to contain a pair of Nommo twins. However, from one half of the egg, a male creature emerged prematurely, which later turned into Jackal Yurugu, who wanted to become the master of the universe. He stole the grains already created by Amma, and then, tearing off a piece of his placenta, made an ark out of it and rushed into space. From this piece of placenta Amma made the Earth. Four sons and four daughters are born from Nommo, who become the progenitors of all people on earth. Although the theme of the god-demiurge is present in the myths of all African peoples, his role does not always correspond to the position of the head of the pantheon, the ancestor and forefather of gods and people. In practical cult and everyday ideas, he is often pushed into the background (as, for example, Olorun in the myths of the Yoruba tribe, Mavu-Liza among the Dahomeans). Having done his job, he "retires", and active reverence is shown to other gods, who, as they believe, can really influence the success or failure of a hunter, farmer, artisan, sorcerer. Often, the ancestor-demiurge bears zoomorphic features, which indicates the original totemistic nature of this image and, in the opinion of many researchers, indicates its archaism (although the great antiquity of zoomorphic images in relation to anthropomorphic ones is a controversial hypothesis). So, in the mythology of the Bushmen, which is indeed one of the most archaic, the supreme god appears in the form of a praying mantis grasshopper named Tsagn. He created everything - the sun, moon and night, stars, mountains, animals, birds. According to one of the myths, the Bushmen were previously antelopes, and Tsagn turned them into people. He taught people to make traps, traps, weapons, he provides good luck on the hunt; he gave songs, taught people the "dance of blood", established existing taboos, revealed the names of localities to people, etc. Other characters of the myth also appear in zoomorphic images: Tsagna's wife is a daman, his sister is a blue crane, his adopted daughter is a porcupine, her son - mongoose. However, all of them, according to the myth, before becoming animals, were once people of the "ancient people". The Bushmen also have rituals that undoubtedly have the meaning of totem worship: ritual dances in which girls depict turtles or antelopes. The Dahomey Aido-Khvedo was probably also a totem animal. Dahomean mythology also contains parallel - more archaic and later - versions of cosmo- and theogonies. According to some of the well-known versions of the myth, it was Aydo-Khvedo, the rainbow snake, who played the role of the demiurge. She appeared first and existed before everyone else. Moving on the ground, she created landscapes of the land. The mountains are her excrement, therefore, riches are found in the mountains. The Earth rests on it; it lies at the base of the earth, curled up in a ring and biting its tail. When she moves to get comfortable, earthquakes occur. If she has nothing to eat, she will bite her tail, and then the Earth will slip off her, and the end of the world will come. When Aido-Hwedo floats to the surface of the water, it is reflected in the sky as a rainbow. At the same time, other myths call Mavu-Liza the head of the 62nd Dahomean pantheon (although the image is multivariate, but in all versions it is anthropomorphic), and Aido-Khvedo acts as his assistant. In the sanctuary of Aido-Khvedo, numerous boa snakes were worshiped, which were forbidden to kill. These snakes were considered the ancestors of the ruling family. A vestige of totemism can also be considered the fact that the demiurge gods have animals that are somehow correlated with God: they are a symbol of God or his representatives. Ashanti has one of the symbols of the supreme god Nyame - the spider Ananse. Nyame creates the world in much the same way as a spider weaves a web, and lives in the center of this world. In myths, the spider appears both as a cultural hero and as a trickster. In general, in the most ancient African mythologies, the images of the demiurge-progenitor, cultural hero and trickster are often still fused in one character, while in later these roles are already differentiated. The Bushman Tsagn acts simultaneously as a demiurge, and as a trickster, and as a cultural hero, and in Dogon mythology, the jackal Yurugu as a trickster is already clearly opposed to Amma as a demiurge. However, not only the gods were the subject of veneration of African tribes. Numerous spirits are also surrounded by worship, among which the foremost attention is paid to the spirits of the ancestors. The presence of a soul was attributed to the sky and the sun, rainbows and lightning; natural phenomena - thunder and lightning, rain and hail; the surrounding nature - the sea, rivers, lakes, waterfalls, springs and streams, mountains, hills, rocks, caves and individual stones, forests, groves, trees, etc. The spirits of nature were considered patrons of individual families, clans, communities and villages, and with the development of social and political relations, the formation of statehood - the patrons of tribes, tribal associations, royal dynasties. All spirits had their own names. Some spirits were more significant, others less important, local. Both the main and local spirits were honored and sacrificed, ritual huts and temples were built. Many spirits had their own priests or priestesses, sorcerers, soothsayers and sorcerers, possessed by these spirits and acting as intermediaries between them and those who worshiped them. Ancestor worship undoubtedly forms the "center of gravity" in African traditional beliefs. The components of this cult are the worship of the spirits and remains of deceased relatives, as well as the veneration of the ancestors - the ancestors of mankind, the tribe, the ruling family, etc. Thus, the spirits of the deceased form a complex hierarchy to which the corresponding cult actions are oriented; place in this hierarchy is also determined by the real status that a person had during life, and, in addition, the nature of death 63 - whether it was natural or violent death, in battle or from illness, etc. deaths, according to Africans, are somewhere near living relatives. Often they prefer to stay in their native places, participate in the earthly affairs of their fellow tribesmen, help them in everyday life, in making personal and collective decisions, warn against wrong and bad deeds and even punish them for them. Spirits can exist invisibly, or they can retain the appearance that a person had during life, they can migrate to certain living creatures, to plants, springs, rocks. The souls of the dead were revered, they were feared, since it was believed that the well-being and success of the living depended on them in many respects; to anger the souls of the dead meant to incur disaster. The customs of ancestor veneration are closely associated with the idea of ​​death and the afterlife, as well as burial rituals. They are often based on a complex and original "anthropology" - a system of ideas about human nature, about what is the source of his life and what is the meaning of death. Many African tribes show in this matter the ability to subtly analyze human psychology. Characteristic, for example, is the idea that many souls are inherent in man. So, the Ashanti tribes believed that a soul-shadow is inherent in a person - saman, soul-breath - kra (or okra), soul-blood - mogya and soul-personality - ntoro. A person receives a soul mogya from his mother, it is a bodily soul, it determines the physical appearance of a person, as well as his position as a member of the clan. He receives ntoro's soul from his father - this is a personal sida, character, prosperity, luck. It is characteristic that the same word denotes the male seed, and the act of conception is understood as the union of the maternal power with the male ntoro. After a person dies, NToro and Mogya are freed from each other. After death, Ntoro joins his group of Ntoro. Mogya retains its former appearance, and after the death of a person, it becomes adobe; saman - the spirits of ancestors who live in a special world, where they await reincarnation. The word adobe also denotes the spirit of the genus, understood as something single, constituting the basis of the genus. Kra accompanies the adobe for some time after death, but leaves him during the funeral ritual. Of all the adolescents, samanfo, the souls of the tribal elders, enjoy special reverence; although they died a long time ago, they continue to closely monitor all events in the life of the living and actively intervene in them. In the beliefs of the Yorubu, in many ways close to Ashanti, there is also a concept of the plurality of souls. Man is endowed with a mortal ojiji spirit, which dies with the physical body, as well as the okkan souls (associated with the heart) and emmy (associated with breathing), which are immortal. In addition, the emmy's soul is capable of leaving the human body for a while during life and undergo various transformations. Like the Ashanti, the Yoruba believe in reincarnation, but they believe that the oka (as the soul of a deceased person is called) can be reborn again in the human body only after having been in the form of an animal. Two souls - moya (spirit) and hika (breath) are inherent in a living person also according to the ideas of the Tsonga tribe. After death, the soul of a person receives a different name (the soul of the deceased is shikvembu), and it is accompanied by a soul-shadow (called ntjhuti or shitjhuti); the souls of deceased ancestors on both lines of kinship tsonga made daily sacrifices. So, preparing himself a supply of tobacco, tsonga poured a few spoons into a pot for his father's ancestors and a table for his mother's ancestors, saying at the same time: “Here is tobacco. Come all, take a pinch and do not envy me when I sniff, look, I put you your share. " A person also possesses many souls according to the ideas of the Bambara tribe. The soul is not manifested in breathing, in the beating of the pulse, during life it is inseparable from the body. In contrast to her, the soul dya - a double of a person - can leave his body for a while, while he sleeps or fell into unconsciousness; this double is of the opposite sex to the person, and marriage is viewed not only as a reunion of spouses, but also as a reunion of their spouses. Tere soul is character, distinctive properties of a given person, consciousness; The head and blood are considered the habitats of the Tere. Tere is separated from a person when he manifests his activities outside, especially when he speaks. At the same time, tere turns into the power of nyama, which, according to beliefs, has an impact on the outside world. Finally, one more element - wanzo is a constituent in human nature - this is an evil inclination, an element of innate filth that frustrates a person's good endeavors. The initiation ritual that all adolescents go through is designed to free them from wanzo. Death, according to the Bambara, means the separation of these elements, or the dissolution of the unity of souls. The soul dya goes into the water, which is the primordial element for it; when a child is born in the family of the deceased, she returns and enters this new member of the genus. The soul or the elder of the clan, usually present at the death of relatives, tries to "catch", passing his hand over the face of the dying person in order to transfer it to the family sanctuary. This soul will also incarnate in the very first newborn in the family, but its “shell” (called folo) will remain in the sanctuary - something like the skin that the snake sheds. Soul 5 - 3404 65 tere completely transforms into nyama and joins the common nyama of the ancestors. Almost all African tribes have ideas about posthumous existence in one form or another. The Bushmen, for example, believe that after the burial of a corpse, the flesh comes to life again, and from it a double of the deceased (called gaua) arises, which in the way of life differs little from a living person: he hunts to provide himself with food, and when tired, returns again to the grave. In the Zulu religion there is an idea of ​​the afterlife, but there is no idea of ​​the immortality of the soul; Believing that the soul continues to exist after death, the Zulus do not give precise answers to the question of how long this existence continues. Respect is given mainly to the souls of the father, grandfather - the closest relatives in the male line. Many peoples associate with the images of the souls of the dead the idea of ​​constant or possible hostility towards the living. Herero believe that a thin worm lives in the spine of a person, which, if not killed, becomes a hostile spirit after the death of the person. Therefore, the spine of the corpse is broken before burial. Deceased sorcerers and enemies always become hostile spirits (they are called oviru); they come to their relatives either in a human form or in the form of some strange animals (dogs with eyes on the back of their heads) with the most malicious intentions - to bring illness, drought, spoil cattle, etc. The souls of deceased ancestors (ovakura) live under earth in their graves and can have both beneficial and hostile influences on the lives of the living. To appease them, sacrifices are offered to them. The spirits of tribal elders and tribal leaders are especially revered. Arriving at their graves with their wives, children and herds, the members of the tribe addressed the deceased with exhortation: Father, here we are, here are your children with the bulls that you left us and which are safe; after that, a bull was sacrificed. It was the African peoples who provided the Europeans with observational material that made it possible to isolate and describe fetishism as a special form of primitive religious beliefs. In the middle of the 18th century. French scientist Charles de Brosse, returning from a trip to Africa, published his impressions, in which the traditional beliefs of African peoples were called fetishism - from the Portuguese word feitico. De Bross drew attention to the fact that among the primitive tribes inhabiting Africa, the worship of material objects is widespread, mostly made by human hands and endowed with supernatural properties in the belief of believers. This phenomenon, which is indeed very characteristic of primitive 66 religions and widespread in Africa, by no means exhausts, however, the entire content of African traditional beliefs and is not only their distinctive feature. It is found almost all over the world. However, specific for this continent is that the making of fetishes gave rise to a distinctive visual culture among African tribes, became the basis for the development of a special, uniquely bright art. Not only the famous ritual masks and drums - many other items of high artistic value, plastic and graphic images make up the material side of African cults. African ritual sculpture and rock art are rooted in antiquity, as evidenced by amazing archaeological finds. So, in Nigeria in the 40s of the XX centuries. fragments of figures and sculptural portraits made of stone and baked clay, terracotta figurines, approximately dating from the 5th century BC, were discovered. BC BC - II century. n. NS. Also known is the terracotta and bronze sculpture of the city-state of Ife (on the territory of modern Nigeria), which flourished in the XII-XV centuries. n. NS. The tradition of Ife is inherited by the well-known Benin bronze - sculptures and bas-reliefs depicting rulers, chiefs, priests and having a pronounced cult character. And in modern traditional African societies, sculptures, masks, drums, amulets become objects of artistic creation, and sometimes high art. Their role in traditional African religions can hardly be overestimated; sculptures and masks are an organic part of the entire life of African societies. They not only act as the emblem of a mythological creature, which is represented by the person wearing a mask during a ritual dance, but they themselves are objects of worship and veneration, they are sung in ritual hymns and myths are told about them. The most common fetishes in everyday life were all kinds of amulets and talismans. Fetishes-amulets could be different in their importance and strength recognized for them. Most often they were obtained or bought from sorcerers, healers and soothsayers, who sanctified fetishes and were "responsible" for their effectiveness. Fetishes were called upon to help their owners, to protect them from enemies, diseases, the evil eye, and other misfortunes. Some fetishes could act independently, without the mediation of sorcerers, but those who obeyed them were considered the most powerful. Since the behavior of fetishes is often unpredictable, they tried to appease them and were afraid. If the fetish acquired "wore out" or did not work at all, it was returned to the manufacturer. Sometimes the "guilty" fetishes even insisted. There was also a fetishist attitude towards drums used in ritual performances. The role of drums is not limited to a simple rhythmic accompaniment of religious processions, dances and chants: they are considered creatures endowed with a soul, personality. They are sanctified, from time to time they are infused with new strength through the offering of gifts and sacrifices. If the drum overturns during the ceremony, the ceremony is immediately interrupted. Each drum has its own performer, who is allowed to play it only after special dedication and long training. Along with the fetishization of "artificial" objects created by human hands, objects of natural origin also became fetishes. Fetish properties were attributed to stones and shells, trees and grasses, animals and birds, skulls of deceased ancestors, rivers, lakes and waterfalls, mountains, rocks, caves, etc. The variety and complexity of meanings associated with the fetish system in African cults can be seen on the example of the fetishes of the Ashanti peoples. One of the most important items in the cult of this people were wooden benches; it was believed that a person's soul is connected with his bench. The benches were made of wood. Among the poorer people, they were simple, the rich decorated them with carvings, silver applique. An obligatory part of such a bench was the chains hanging on it, which were given a very definite practical meaning: they kept the soul inside the object, did not allow it to leave it. These benches were undoubtedly taboo: they were not only never sat on, but they were always kept upside down so that an evil spirit could not sit on them - this would mean that he took possession of a person's soul; kept them in a special room. When the owner of the bench died, it was blackened with soot and placed in the "house of the benches" - a sanctuary that played a huge role in the religion of the tribe. It contained, among others, the benches of the leaders, revered ancestral ancestors. During all important ceremonies, the benches of the leaders, wrapped in valuable fabrics, were carried in front of the procession under special ritual umbrellas, which were also the object of fetishistic worship. The central role was played by benches in the ceremony of hell - the main ritual, the meaning of which was to make sacrifices to ancestors. The leader solemnly slaughtered the sacrificial goat or sheep, with whose blood the benches were smeared, then he put a little porridge from boiled fruits into the recesses of the benches and said the words: “Spirits of ancestors, today ade, come and receive this offering, and eat; may our family prosper, may children be born, may our people be rich. " The main shrine of the Ashanti tribes was the so-called "golden throne" - a bench that contained the spirit of the whole family. In addition to wooden carvings, it was decorated with massive gold appliqués, gold bells and fetters, designed to "hold the soul of the people." It was believed that the safety of the golden throne serves as a guarantee of the country's well-being. Also, no one could sit on the golden throne, not even the king of Ashanti himself - during the coronation he only pretended to sit on it. At one time, the dramatic history of the Golden Throne was widely known, extensive literature was devoted to it. Ashanti fought stubborn wars against the British colonialists. In 1896, during the Seventh Anglo-Ashantian War, the throne was removed from storage and secretly buried. The Ashanti suffered a crushing defeat in the war. In 1900, the British governor of the Gold Coast colony, which included the Ashanti lands, demanded that a "golden bench" be brought to him so that he could sit on it. This was seen as a national insult and sparked a massive Ashanti revolt. In 1921, the Throne was accidentally discovered by robbers, gold jewelry and chains were torn from it. Ashanti experienced it as a national tragedy. Another category of fetishes revered by the Ashanti were the so-called suman - objects that can protect a person from hostile witchcraft or save him from death in the event of a taboo violation. The greatest suman of Ashanti - Kunkuma is a broom made from the fibers of the leaves of the vinifera palm. The witch doctor who made this suman pronounced forbidden names and other taboo words in front of him. "Kunkuma can protect you from all bad things," the healer says, "he takes any harm upon himself." Sacrifices are made over the suman Kunkuma, while saying the following words: “Get this bird and eat it. If someone poisons me (that is, forces me to break a taboo), do not let him have power over me. " Other numerous sumans are made from claws, teeth, tails, fangs, shells, fiber, nuts. Beads, pieces of iron are tied to them, they are coated with dyes, blood, eggs, etc. Other African peoples also had nationwide fetishes, revered as the highest shrines. Thus, the peoples of Bambara (Mali), Yoruba and some others revered the stone axes of the Neolithic times they found - it was believed that these were petrified lightning deities of water and thunder (in the Bambar they called him Faro). The Bamileke people (Cameroon) had more than 20 common fetishes, including sacred stones, drums and gongs, stools and ancestral thrones, clay pipes, elephant tusks, leopard skins, python skins, etc. wooden images of animals and people. The Bambara people also had a characteristic fetishist cult called pemba. Pemba personifies the earth and is embodied in a stump of wood or timber called a pembele. On this bar, dashes and various signs are applied, symbolizing the images of cosmogonic mythology. The upper plane of the pembele depicts the sky, the lower plane depicts the earth, and the four lateral surfaces represent north, south, east and west. This bar is called the ngala god because it contains all the strength and power (nyama) of the deity that this bar represents. Nyama is the force that animates all beings and represents the hypostasis of the earth. After the death of each family member, the elder collects his nyama power and transfers it to the pembele bar; here she is kept until a new child is born in the family, into which she is included. The largest amount of nyama is found in the corners of a square bar. In cases where it is necessary to get the maximum of nyama, small chips are chipped off the corners of the pembele. However, this is only done when absolutely necessary, as decided by the body of elders. After all, if you abuse the removal of pembele particles, then the amount of nyama of the whole earth, which this timber symbolizes, will decrease. And if the earth loses nyama, then everything living and growing will lose its essence: cereals will grow, but there will be no grain in the ears, women will not be able to give birth to living children, people will be weakened, although the earth will exist, it will be barren. Thus, pembele recedes into the shadows, reverence for a material object comes to the fore not so much because of its symbolic connection with the image of Pemba, but because of the power of nyama contained in the earth, in a tree, i.e. in matter. Quite often, the idea of ​​the power of fetishes was associated with the belief that the fetishized object is endowed with a soul. The presence of a soul was attributed to both artificial fetishes and natural phenomena and objects - the sky and the sun, rainbow and lightning, thunder and lightning, rain and hail. Fetish beliefs here come close to animistic beliefs - with the idea that the world is inhabited by spirits and that all processes around, primarily those that are significant for human life, are controlled by spirits. Each spirit had its own name and "sphere of influence". There were spirits who patronized individual families, communities, tribes, tribal unions and their rulers. Over time, ideas about spirits were transformed into ideas about gods; pandemoniums turned into pantheons. A typical form of religious organization for African tribes is the so-called secret unions, which, being more or less closed cult associations, perform far more than just religious functions. Initially, their task included the religious and military education of young people and the conduct of some rituals, primarily initiations, rituals of reverence for ancestors and all kinds of magic, but over time they turned into powerful religious and political associations that penetrate into all spheres of life and have significant power, influence and means. At religious festivals, members of secret unions are mummers, in masks, with musical accompaniment of drums and rattles; one of them usually represents the supreme deity or spirit to whom the secret society is dedicated. Most secret unions have a rigid hierarchical structure, collect membership fees, the size of which depends on the position in the hierarchy; it is believed that their leaders are most endowed with magical powers, that is, they are the most powerful sorcerers; often the leadership of a secret society coincides in composition with the top of the tribal organization. The head of a secret society, as a rule, is a priest, a fortuneteller, and a judge. So, the secret society of Como of the Bambara tribe is a sacred community, and quite open: all young men who have undergone initiation have the right to join it, and it is thought of as a religious union of all living and dead men in the village. Como members gather for funeral rites, dedication of new como members, celebration of the Como anniversary, post-harvest sacrifices, etc. special barns stocks of food and utensils (they are managed by the head of the Como), resolves issues of relations with neighbors, initiates military clashes, performs judicial functions. The right to punish and pardon at their own discretion (up to the death penalty) makes the power of the leaders of the Komo practically unlimited, and the influence of the Komo extends to any sphere of practical activity of the villagers. The internal stratification of the secret union is due to the fact that joining it is associated with high costs, and the sons of the rich enter como at a relatively early age, while the poor have to save up funds for a long time to join; some poor people fail to do this even throughout their lives. The position in the Komo hierarchy depends on the time of entry, that is, members of the richest and most noble families play the leading role. Many tribes have several secret alliances. So, the Kpelle tribe has a religious union Poro (Poro was considered the spirit of the forest) - one of the most powerful secret societies in Tropical Africa, and along with it there are several other unions associated with zoomorphic images of a leopard, snake, antelope, crocodile. These societies, which apparently had totemistic roots, did not enjoy much influence, and participation in them did not give great advantages. Probably, totemistic origins also took place among the Ashantian ntoros. The entire Ashanti people were subdivided into 9 NToro, belonging to which was inherited by the father (the individual soul of NToro, as indicated above, joined after death to the collective spirit of the corresponding NToro). Most of them bore the names of lakes and rivers, each had taboo animals and plants. Six secret societies of the Bambara tribe (Ndomo, Como, Nama, Kono, Tivar, Kore) corresponded to six stages of initiation (since there are myths intended only for initiates, each subsequent stage means an initiation into more complete knowledge). In addition, there is mythological symbolism, according to which each of the societies corresponds to one of the most important human joints. So, the Ndomo society, which united boys who did not undergo circumcision, corresponded to the ankle joint. Like this joint, it allows a person to move and “clears the way for him to know. Como society corresponds to the knee, etc. Huge influence up to the 40s of the XX century. used secret societies of the Yoruba, the most significant of which are Egungun, Oro and Ogbony. Egungun was closely associated with memorial and funeral rituals. So, the final act of the funeral was that a few days after the burial of the deceased, a figure appeared in the village, dressed in a suit of grass fibers and with a fantastic wooden mask on his head. It was believed that it was the spirit of Egungun who came from the realm of death to announce the arrival of the deceased there. He approached the house of the deceased, his relatives greeted him with greetings and gifts, and he called out the name of the deceased, and from afar a voice answered him, as if belonging to a dead man. At the end of June every year, the commemoration of all those who died during the year was celebrated. A procession of mummers in terrible masks and costumes, including a skeleton and death, moved through the streets to the sound of drums and rattles; one of them drove off the crowd with a whip. It was believed that these were aliens from the other world, who came to check whether the people were behaving well, and to punish those who broke the laws. The sinister power of the Oro society was associated with the fact that criminals sentenced to death were transferred to it. The convicts were no longer seen alive afterwards, they were found torn to pieces in the forest thicket. At their festivities, members of the Oro appeared dressed in long robes and masks, whose lips were smeared with blood. The Ogbony Society was essentially a secret police force terrorizing the middle and lower strata of the population. It was 72 intimately connected with state administration; it was headed by Alafin - the king of one of the Yoruba kingdoms. In all the villages there were “lodges” of Ogboni, their members were welded together by iron discipline and mutual responsibility. Secret societies had the right to deal with sorcerers, which gave them almost unlimited power. Belonging to them is either inherited from; father, or was based on a vocation: any event was interpreted by the priest as a sign calling on the person to enter society (of course, after a plentiful sacrifice and a corresponding contribution). The colonial authorities fought against secret alliances, as a result of which some of them disappeared, and some changed and lost their former influence. Those that have survived to this day operate in the countryside; they are in favor of strengthening ethnic solidarity, for the preservation of traditional religious foundations and morality.